Detection of nucleic acid sequence differences using the ligase detection reaction with addressable arrays

ABSTRACT

The present invention describes a method for identifying one or more of a plurality of sequences differing by one or more single base changes, insertions, deletions, or translocations in a plurality of target nucleotide sequences. The method includes a ligation phase, a capture phase, and a detection phase. The ligation phase utilizes a ligation detection reaction between one oligonucleotide probe, which has a target sequence-specific portion and an addressable array-specific portion, and a second oligonucleotide probe, having a target sequence-specific portion and a detectable label. After the ligation phase, the capture phase is carried out by hybridizing the ligated oligonucleotide probes to a solid support with an array of immobilized capture oligonucleotides at least some of which are complementary to the addressable array-specific portion. Following completion of the capture phase, a detection phase is carried out to detect the labels of ligated oligonucleotide probes hybridized to the solid support. The ligation phase can be preceded by an amplification process. The present invention also relates to a kit for practicing this method, a method of forming arrays on solid supports, and the supports themselves.

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Serial No. 60/011,359, filed Feb. 9, 1996.

[0002] This invention was developed with government funding underNational Institutes of Health Grant Nos. GM-41337-06, GM-43552-05,GM-42722-07, and GM-51628-02. The U.S. Government may have certainrights.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to the detection of nucleic acidsequence differences in nucleic acids using a ligation phase, a capturephase, and a detection phase. The ligation phase utilizes a ligationdetection reaction between one oligonucleotide probe which has a targetsequence-specific portion and an addressable array-specific portion anda second oligonucleotide probe having a target sequence-specific portionand a detectable label. The capture phase involves hybridizing theligated oligonucleotide probes to a solid support with an array ofimmobilized capture oligonucleotides at least some of which arecomplementary to the addressable array-specific portion. The labels ofligated oligonucleotide probes hybridized to the solid support aredetected during the detection phase.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Detection of Sequence Differences

[0005] Large-scale multiplex analysis of highly polymorphic loci isneeded for practical identification of individuals, e.g., for paternitytesting and in forensic science (Reynolds et al., Anal. Chem., 63:2-15(1991)), for organ-transplant donor-recipient matching (Buyse et al.,Tissue Antigens, 41:1-14 (1993) and Gyllensten et al., PCR Meth. Appl,1:91-98 (1991)), for genetic disease diagnosis, prognosis, and pre-natalcounseling (Chamberlain et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 16:11141-11156(1988) and L. C. Tsui, Human Mutat., 1:197-203 (1992)), and the study ofoncogenic mutations (Hollstein et al., Science, 253:49-53 (1991)). Inaddition, the cost-effectiveness of infectious disease diagnosis bynucleic acid analysis varies directly with the multiplex scale in paneltesting. Many of these applications depend on the discrimination ofsingle-base differences at a multiplicity of sometimes closely spaceloci.

[0006] A variety of DNA hybridization techniques are available fordetecting the presence of one or more selected polynucleotide sequencesin a sample containing a large number of sequence regions. In a simplemethod, which relies on fragment capture and labeling, a fragmentcontaining a selected sequence is captured by hybridization to animmobilized probe. The captured fragment can be labeled by hybridizationto a second probe which contains a detectable reporter moiety.

[0007] Another widely used method is Southern blotting. In this method,a mixture of DNA fragments in a sample are fractionated by gelelectrophoresis, then fixed on a nitrocellulose filter. By reacting thefilter with one or more labeled probes under hybridization conditions,the presence of bands containing the probe sequence can be identified.The method is especially useful for identifying fragments in arestriction-enzyme DNA digest which contain a given probe sequence, andfor analyzing restriction-fragment length polymorphisms (“RFLPs”).

[0008] Another approach to detecting the presence of a given sequence orsequences in a polynucleotide sample involves selective amplification ofthe sequence(s) by polymerase chain reaction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202 toMullis, et al. and R. K. Saiki, et al., Science 230:1350 (1985). In thismethod, primers complementary to opposite end portions of the selectedsequence(s) are used to promote, in conjunction with thermal cycling,successive rounds of primer-initiated replication. The amplifiedsequence may be readily identified by a variety of techniques. Thisapproach is particularly useful for detecting the presence of low-copysequences in a polynucleotide-containing sample, e.g., for detectingpathogen sequences in a body-fluid sample.

[0009] More recently, methods of identifying known target sequences byprobe ligation methods have been reported. U.S. Pat. No.4,883,750 to N.M. Whiteley, et al., D. Y. Wu, et al., Genomics 4:560 (1989), U.Landegren, et al., Science 241:1077 (1988), and E. Winn-Deen, et al.,Clin. Chem. 37:1522 (1991). In one approach, known as oligonucleotideligation assay (“OLA”), two probes or probe elements which span a targetregion of interest are hybridized with the target region. Where theprobe elements match (basepair with) adjacent target bases at theconfronting ends of the probe elements, the two elements can be joinedby ligation, e.g., by treatment with ligase. The ligated probe elementis then assayed, evidencing the presence of the target sequence.

[0010] In a modification of this approach, the ligated probe elementsact as a template for a pair of complementary probe elements. Withcontinued cycles of denaturation, hybridization, and ligation in thepresence of the two complementary pairs of probe elements, the targetsequence is amplified geometrically, i.e., exponentially allowing verysmall amounts of target sequence to be detected and/or amplified. Thisapproach is referred to as ligase chain reaction (“LCR”). F. Barany,“Genetic Disease Detection and DNA Amplification Using ClonedThermostable Ligase,” Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, 88:189-93 (1991) andF. Barany, “The Ligase Chain Reaction (LCR) in a PCR World,” PCR Methodsand Applications, 1:5-16 (1991).

[0011] Another scheme for multiplex detection of nucleic acid sequencedifferences is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,705 to Grossman et. al.where sequence-specific probes, having a detectable label and adistinctive ratio of charge/translational frictional drag, can behybridized to a target and ligated together. This technique was used inGrossman, et. al., “High-density Multiplex Detection of Nucleic AcidSequences: Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay and Sequence-codedSeparation,” Nucl. Acids Res. 22(21):4527-34 (1994) for the large scalemultiplex analysis of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator gene.

[0012] Jou, et. al., “Deletion Detection in Dystrophin Gene by MultiplexGap Ligase Chain Reaction and Immunochromatographic Strip Technology,”Human Mutation 5:86-93 (1995) relates to the use of a so called “gapligase chain reaction” process to amplify simultaneously selectedregions of multiple exons with the amplified products being read on animmunochromatographic strip having antibodies specific to the differenthaptens on the probes for each exon.

[0013] There is a growing need, e.g., in the field of genetic screening,for methods useful in detecting the presence or absence of each of alarge number of sequences in a target polynucleotide. For example, asmany as 400 different mutations have been associated with cysticfibrosis. In screening for genetic predisposition to this disease, it isoptimal to test all of the possible different gene sequence mutations inthe subject's genomic DNA, in order to make a positive identification of“cystic fibrosis”. It would be ideal to test for the presence or absenceof all of the possible mutation sites in a single assay. However, theprior-art methods described above are not readily adaptable for use indetecting multiple selected sequences in a convenient, automatedsingle-assay format.

[0014] Solid-phase hybridization assays require multiple liquid-handlingsteps, and some incubation and wash temperatures must be carefullycontrolled to keep the stringency needed for single-nucleotide mismatchdiscrimination. Multiplexing of this approach has proven difficult asoptimal hybridization conditions vary greatly among probe sequences.

[0015] Allele-specific PCR products generally have the same size, and agiven amplification tube is scored by the presence or absence of theproduct band in the gel lane associated with each reaction tube. Gibbset al., Nucleic Acids Res., 17:2437-2448 (1989). This approach requiressplitting the test sample among multiple reaction tubes with differentprimer combinations, multiplying assay cost. PCR has also discriminatedalleles by attaching different fluorescent dyes to competing allelicprimers in a single reaction tube (F. F. Chehab, et al., Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA, 86:9178-9182 (1989)), but this route to multiplexanalysis is limited in scale by the relatively few dyes which can bespectrally resolved in an economical manner with existinginstrumentation and dye chemistry. The incorporation of bases modifiedwith bulky side chains can be used to differentiate allelic PCR productsby their electrophoretic mobility, but this method is limited by thesuccessful incorporation of these modified bases by polymerase, and bythe ability of electrophoresis to resolve relatively large PCR productswhich differ in size by only one of these groups. Livak et al., NucleicAcids Res., 20:4831-4837 (1989). Each PCR product is used to look foronly a single mutation, making multiplexing difficult.

[0016] Ligation of allele-specific probes generally has used solid-phasecapture (U. Landegren et al., Science, 241:1077-1080 (1988); Nickersonet al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87:8923-8927 (1990)) orsize-dependent separation (D. Y. Wu, et al., Genomics, 4:560-569 (1989)and F. Barany, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 88:189-193 (1991)) to resolve theallelic signals, the latter method being limited in multiplex scale bythe narrow size range of ligation probes. The gap ligase chain reactionprocess requires an additional step-polymerase extension. The use ofprobes with distinctive ratios of charge/translational frictional dragtechnique to a more complex multiplex will either require longerelectrophoresis times or the use of an alternate form of detection.

[0017] The need thus remains for a rapid single assay format to detectthe presence or absence of multiple selected sequences in apolynucleotide sample.

[0018] Use of Oligonucleotide Arrays for Nucleic Acid Analysis

[0019] Ordered arrays of oligonucleotides immobilized on a solid supporthave been proposed for sequencing, sorting, isolating, and manipulatingDNA. It has been recognized that hybridization of a clonedsingle-stranded DNA molecule to all possible oligonucleotide probes of agiven length can theoretically identify the corresponding complementaryDNA segments present in the molecule. In such an array, eacholigonucleotide probe is immobilized on a solid support at a differentpredetermined position. All the oligonucleotide segments in a DNAmolecule can be surveyed with such an array.

[0020] One example of a procedure for sequencing DNA molecules usingarrays of oligonucleotides is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,231 toDrmanac, et. al. This involves application of target DNA to a solidsupport to which a plurality of oligonucleotides are attached. Sequencesare read by hybridization of segments of the target DNA to theoligonucleotides and assembly of overlapping segments of hybridizedoligonucleotides. The array utilizes all possible oligonucleotides of acertain length between 11 and 20 nucleotides, but there is littleinformation about how this array is constructed. See also A. B.Chetverin, et. al., “Sequencing of Pools of Nucleic Acids onOligonucleotide Arrays,” BioSystems 30: 215-31 (1993); WO 92/16655 toKhrapko et. al.; Kuznetsova, et. al., “DNA Sequencing by Hybridizationwith Oligonucleotides Immobilized in Gel. Chemical Ligation as a Methodof Expanding the Prospects for the Method,” Mol. Biol. 28(20):290-99(1994); M. A. Livits, et. al., “Dissociation of Duplexes Formed byHybridization of DNA with Gel-Immobilized Oligonucleotides,” J.Biomolec. Struct. & Dynam. 11(4): 783-812 (1994).

[0021] WO 89/10977 to Southern discloses the use of a support carryingan array of oligonucleotides capable of undergoing a hybridizationreaction for use in analyzing a nucleic acid sample for known pointmutations, genomic fingerprinting, linkage analysis, and sequencedetermination. The matrix is formed by laying nucleotide bases in aselected pattern on the support. This reference indicates that ahydroxyl linker group can be applied to the support with theoligonucleotides being assembled by a pen plotter or by masking.

[0022] WO 94/11530 to Cantor also relates to the use of anoligonucleotide array to carry out a process of sequencing byhybridization. The oligonucleotides are duplexes having overhanging endsto which target nucleic acids bind and are then ligated to thenon-overhanging portion of the duplex. The array is constructed by usingstreptavidin-coated filter paper which captures biotinylatedoligonucleotides assembled before attachment.

[0023] WO 93/17126 to Chetverin uses sectioned, binary oligonucleotidearrays to sort and survey nucleic acids. These arrays have a constantnucleotide sequence attached to an adjacent variable nucleotidesequence, both bound to a solid support by a covalent linking moiety.The constant nucleotide sequence has a priming region to permitamplification by PCR of hybridized strands. Sorting is then carried outby hybridization to the variable region. Sequencing, isolating, sorting,and manipulating fragmented nucleic acids on these binary arrays arealso disclosed. In one embodiment with enhanced sensitivity, theimmobilized oligonucleotide has a shorter complementary regionhybridized to it, leaving part of the oligonucleotide uncovered. Thearray is then subjected to hybridization conditions so that acomplementary nucleic acid anneals to the immobilized oligonucleotide.DNA ligase is then used to join the shorter complementary region and thecomplementary nucleic acid on the array. There is little disclosure ofhow to prepare the arrays of oligonucleotides.

[0024] WO 92/10588 to Fodor et. al., discloses a process for sequencing,fingerprinting, and mapping nucleic acids by hybridization to an arrayof oligonucleotides. The array of oligonucleotides is prepared by a verylarge scale immobilized polymer synthesis which permits the synthesis oflarge, different oligonucleotides. In this procedure, the substratesurface is functionalized and provided with a linker group by whicholigonucleotides are assembled on the substrate. The regions whereoligonucleotides are attached have protective groups (on the substrateor individual nucleotide subunits) which are selectively activated.Generally, this involves imaging the array with light using a mask ofvarying configuration so that areas exposed are deprotected. Areas whichhave been deprotected undergo a chemical reaction with a protectednucleotide to extend the oligonucleotide sequence where imaged. A binarymasking strategy can be used to build two or more arrays at a giventime. Detection involves positional localization of the region wherehybridization has taken place. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,324,633 and5,424,186 to Fodor et. al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,143,854 and 5,405,783 toPirrung, et. al., WO 90/15070 to Pirrung, et. al., A. C. Pease, et. al.,“Light-generated Oligonucleotide Arrays for Rapid DNA SequenceAnalysis”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 91: 5022-26 (1994). K. L. Beattie,et. al., “Advances in Genosensor Research,” Clin. Chem. 41(5): 700-CI9(1995) discloses attachment, of previously assembled oligonucleotideprobes to a solid support.

[0025] There are many drawbacks to the procedures for sequencing byhybridization to such arrays. Firstly, a very large number ofoligonucleotides must be synthesized. Secondly, there is poordiscrimination between correctly hybridized, properly matched duplexesand those which are mismatched. Finally, certain oligonucleotides willbe difficult to hybridize to under standard conditions, with sucholigonucleotides being capable of identification only through extensivehybridization studies.

[0026] The present invention is directed toward overcoming thesedeficiencies in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0027] The present invention relates to a method for identifying one ormore of a plurality of sequences differing by one or more single basechanges, insertions, deletions, or translocations in a plurality oftarget nucleotide sequences. The method includes a ligation phase, acapture phase, and a detection phase.

[0028] The ligation phase requires providing a sample potentiallycontaining one or more nucleotide sequences with a plurality of sequencedifferences. A plurality of oligonucleotide sets are utilized in thisphase. Each set includes a first oligonucleotide probe, having atarget-specific portion and an addressable array-specific portion, and asecond oligonucleotide probe, having a target-specific portion and adetectable reporter label. The first and second oligonucleotide probesin a particular set are suitable for ligation together when hybridizedadjacent to one another on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence.However, the first and second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatchwhich interferes with such ligation when hybridized to anothernucleotide sequence present in the sample. A ligase is also utilized.The sample, the plurality of oligonucleotide probe sets, and the ligaseare blended to form a mixture. The mixture is subjected to one or moreligase detection reaction cycles comprising a denaturation treatment anda hybridization treatment. The denaturation treatment involvesseparating any hybridized oligonucleotides from the target nucleotidesequences. The hybridization treatment involves hybridizing theoligonucleotide probe sets at adjacent positions in a base-specificmanner to their respective target nucleotide sequences, if present inthe sample, and ligating them to one another to form a ligated productsequence containing (a) the addressable array-specific portion, (b) thetarget-specific portions connected together, and (c) the detectablereporter label. The oligonucleotide probe sets may hybridize tonucleotide sequences in the sample other than their respective targetnucleotide sequences but do not ligate together due to a presence of oneor more mismatches, and individually separate during denaturationtreatment.

[0029] The next phase of the process is the capture phase. This phaseinvolves providing a solid support with capture oligonucleotidesimmobilized at particular sites. The capture oligonucleotides arecomplementary to the addressable array-specific portions. The mixture,after being subjected to the ligation phase, is contacted with the solidsupport under conditions effective to hybridize the addressablearray-specific portions to the capture oligonucleotides in abase-specific manner. As a result, the addressable array-specificportions are captured on the solid support at the site with thecomplementary capture oligonucleotides.

[0030] After the capture phase is the detection phase. During thisportion of the process, the reporter labels of the ligated productsequences are captured on the solid support at particular sites. Whenthe presence of the reporter label bound to the solid support isdetected, the respective presence of one or more nucleotide sequences inthe sample is indicated.

[0031] The present invention also relates to a kit for carrying out themethod of the present invention which includes the ligase, the pluralityof oligonucleotide sets, and the solid support with immobilized captureoligonucleotides.

[0032] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method offorming an array of oligonucleotides on a solid support. This methodinvolves providing a solid support having an array of positions eachsuitable for attachment of an oligonucleotide. A linker or surface(which can be non-hydrolyzable), suitable for coupling anoligonucleotide to the solid support at each of the array positions, isattached to the solid support. An array of oligonucleotides on a solidsupport is formed by a series of cycles of activating selected arraypositions for attachment of multimer nucleotides and attaching multimernucleotides at the activated array positions.

[0033] Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to an arrayof oligonucleotides on a solid support per se. The solid support has anarray of positions each suitable for attachment of an oligonucleotide. Alinker or support (which can be non-hydrolyzable), suitable for couplingan oligonucleotide to the solid support, is attached to the solidsupport at each of the array positions. An array of oligonucleotides areplaced on a solid support with at least some of the array positionsbeing occupied by oligonucleotides having greater than sixteennucleotides.

[0034] The present invention contains a number of advantages over priorart systems, particularly, its ability to carry out multiplex analysesof complex genetic systems. As a result, a large number of nucleotidesequence differences in a sample can be detected at one time. Thepresent invention is useful for detection of, for example, cancermutations, inherited (germline) mutations, and infectious diseases. Thistechnology can also be utilized in conjunction with environmentalmonitoring, forensics, and the food industry.

[0035] In addition, the present invention provides quantitativedetection of mutations in a high background of normal sequences, allowsdetection of closely-clustered mutations, permits detection usingaddressable arrays, and is amenable to automation. By combining thesensitivity of PCR with the specificity of LDR, common difficultiesencountered in allele-specific PCR, such as false-positive signalgeneration, primer interference during multiplexing, limitations inobtaining quantitative data, and suitability for automation, have beenobviated. In addition, by relying on the specificity of LDR todistinguish single-base mutations, the major inherent problem ofoligonucleotide probe arrays (i.e. their inability to distinguishsingle-base changes at all positions in heterozygous samples) has beenovercome. PCR/LDR addresses the current needs in cancer detection; toquantify mutations which may serve as clonal markers and to detectminimal residual disease and micrometastases.

[0036] In carrying out analyses of different samples, the solid supportcontaining the array can be reused. This reduces the quantity of solidsupports which need to be manufactured and lowers the cost of analyzingeach sample.

[0037] The present invention also affords great flexibility in thesynthesis of oligonucleotides and their attachment to solid supports.Oligonucleotides can be synthesized off of the solid support and thenattached to unique surfaces on the support. This technique can be usedto attach full length oligonucleotides or peptide nucleotide analogues(“PNA”) to the solid support. Alternatively, shorter nucleotide oranalogue segments (dimer, trimer, tetramer, etc.) can be employed in asegment condensation or block synthesis approach to full lengtholigomers on the solid support.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038]FIG. 1 is a flow diagram depicting polymerase chain reaction(“PCR”)/ligase detection reaction (“LDR”) processes, according to theprior art and the present invention, for detection of germlinemutations, such as point mutations.

[0039]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram depicting PCR/LDR processes, according tothe prior art and the present invention, for detection ofcancer-associated mutations.

[0040]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting a PCR/LDR process,according to the present invention, using addresses on theallele-specific probes for detecting homo- or heterozygosity at twopolymorphisms (i.e. allele differences) on the same gene.

[0041]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting a PCR/LDR process,according to the present invention, using addresses on theallele-specific probes which distinguishes all possible bases at a givensite.

[0042]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting a PCR/LDR process,according to the present invention, using addresses on theallele-specific probes for detecting the presence of any possible baseat two nearby sites.

[0043]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a PCR/LDR process, according tothe present invention, using addresses on the allele-specific probesdistinguishing insertions and deletions.

[0044]FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordancewith the present invention, using addresses on the allele-specificprobes to detect a low abundance mutation (within a codon) in thepresence of an excess of normal sequence.

[0045]FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordancewith the present invention, where the address is placed on the commonprobe and the allele differences are distinguished by differentfluorescent signals F1, F2, F3, and F4.

[0046]FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordancewith the present invention, where both adjacent and nearby alleles aredetected.

[0047]FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordancewith the present invention, where all possible single-base mutations fora single codon are detected.

[0048]FIG. 11 shows the chemical reactions for covalent modifications,grafting, and oligomer attachments to solid supports.

[0049] FIGS. 12A-C show proposed chemistries for covalent attachment ofoligonucleotides to solid supports.

[0050] FIGS. 13A-B show two alternative formats for oligonucleotideprobe capture. In FIG. 13A, the addressable array-specific portions areon the allele-specific probe. Alleles are distinguished by capture offluorescent signals on addresses Z1 and Z2, respectively. In FIG. 13B,the addressable array-specific portions are on the common probe andalleles are distinguished by capture of fluorescent signals F1 and F2,which correspond to the two alleles, respectively.

[0051] FIGS. 14A-E depict a protocol for constructing an 8×8 array ofoligomers by spotting full-length, individual 24 mer oligomers atvarious sites on a solid support.

[0052] FIGS. 15A-E are perspective views of the 8×8 array constructionprotocol of FIGS. 14A-E.

[0053] FIGS. 16A-C are views of an apparatus used to spot full-length,individual 24 mer oligomers on a solid support in accordance with FIGS.14A-E to 15A-E.

[0054]FIG. 17 shows a design in accordance with the present inventionusing 36 tetramers differing by at least 2 bases, which can be used tocreate a series of unique 24-mers.

[0055]FIG. 18A-G are schematic diagrams showing addition of PNAtetramers to generate a 5×5 array of unique 25 mer addresses.

[0056] FIGS. 19A-E depict a protocol for constructing an 8×8 array of24-mers by sequentially coupling 6 tetramers.

[0057] FIGS. 20A-C are perspective views of the 8×8 array constructionprotocol of FIGS. 19B-C.

[0058] FIGS. 21A-G show a schematic cross-sectional view of thesynthesis of an addressable array, in accordance with FIGS. 19B-C.

[0059] FIGS. 22A-C are schematic views of an apparatus used tosynthesize the 8×8 array of 24 mers on a solid support in accordancewith FIGS. 19B-C, 20A-C, and 21A-G.

[0060] FIGS. 23A-C are perspective views of the 8×8 array constructionprotocol of FIG. 19 (FIGS. 19D-19E).

[0061] FIGS. 24A-C are schematic views of an apparatus used tosynthesize the 5×5 array of 24 mers on a solid support, in accordancewith FIGS. 19D-E and 23A-C.

[0062] FIGS. 25A-C are schematic diagrams of a valve block assemblycapable of routing six input solutions to 5 output ports.

[0063] FIGS. 26A-D are diagrams of a circular manifold capable ofsimultaneously channeling 6 input solutions into 5 output ports.

[0064]FIG. 27 is a schematic drawing of an assay system for carrying outthe process of the present invention.

[0065]FIG. 28 shows phosphorimager data for different derivatizedsurfaces.

[0066]FIG. 29 shows phosphorimager data for different crosslinkingconditions of the polymer matrix.

[0067]FIG. 30 shows phosphorimager data for —OH functionalized slides.

[0068]FIG. 31 shows the reaction scheme for producing a glass slidesilanized with 3-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane.

[0069]FIG. 32 shows the reaction scheme for producing polymerizedpoly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate on a glass slide silanized with3-methacryloyloxypropyl-trimethoxy-silane.

[0070]FIG. 33 shows the reaction scheme for producing polymerizedacrylic acid and trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylateon a glass slide silanized with 3-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane.

[0071]FIG. 34 shows the reaction scheme for producing polymerizedpoly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate and trimethylolpropane ethoxylate(14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate on a glass slide silanized with3-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND DRAWINGS

[0072] The present invention relates to a method for identifying one ormore of a plurality of sequences differing by one or more single-basechanges, insertions, deletions, or translocations in a plurality oftarget nucleotide sequences. The method includes a ligation phase, acapture phase, and a detection phase.

[0073] The ligation phase requires providing a sample potentiallycontaining one or more nucleotide sequences with a plurality of sequencedifferences . A plurality of oligonucleotide sets are utilized in thisphase. Each set includes a first oligonucleotide probe, having atarget-specific portion and an addressable array-specific portion, and asecond oligonucleotide probe, having a target-specific portion and adetectable reporter label. The first and second oligonucleotide probesin a particular set are suitable for ligation together when hybridizedadjacent to one another on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence.However, the first and second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatchwhich interferes with such ligation when hybridized to anothernucleotide sequence present in the sample. A ligase is also utilized.The sample, the plurality of oligonucleotide probe sets, and the ligaseare blended to form a mixture. The mixture is subjected to one or moreligase detection reaction cycles comprising a denaturation treatment anda hybridization treatment. The denaturation treatment involvesseparating any hybridized oligonucleotides from the target nucleotidesequences. The hybridization treatment involves hybridizing theoligonucleotide probe sets at adjacent positions in a base-specificmanner to their respective target nucleotide sequences, if present inthe sample, and ligating them to one another to form a ligated productsequence containing (a) the addressable array-specific portion, (b) thetarget-specific portions connected together, and (c) the detectablereporter label. The oligonucleotide probe sets may hybridize tonucleotide sequences in the sample other than their respective targetnucleotide sequences but do not ligate together due to a presence of oneor more mismatches and individually separate during denaturationtreatment.

[0074] The next phase of the process is the capture phase. This phaseinvolves providing a solid support with capture oligonucleotidesimmobilized at particular sites. The capture oligonucleotides arecomplementary to the addressable array-specific portions. The mixture,after being subjected to the ligation phase, is contacted with the solidsupport under conditions effective to hybridize the addressablearray-specific portions to the capture oligonucleotides in abase-specific manner. As a result, the addressable array-specificportions are captured on the solid support at the site with thecomplementary capture oligonucleotides.

[0075] After the capture phase is the detection phase. During thisportion of the process, the reporter labels of the ligated productsequences are captured on the solid support at particular sites. Whenthe presence of the reporter label bound to the solid support isdetected, the respective presence of one or more nucleotide sequences inthe sample is indicated.

[0076] Often, a number of different single-base mutations, insertions,or deletions may occur at the same nucleotide position of the sequenceof interest. The method provides for having an oligonucleotide set,where the second oligonucleotide probe is common and contains thedetectable label, and the first oligonucleotide probe has differentaddressable array-specific portions and target-specific portions. Thefirst oligonucleotide probe is suitable for ligation to a secondadjacent oligonucleotide probe at a first ligation junction, whenhybridized without mismatch, to the sequence in question. Differentfirst adjacent oligonucleotide probes would contain differentdiscriminating base(s) at the junction where only a hybridizationwithout mismatch at the junction would allow for ligation. Each firstadjacent oligonucleotide would contain a different addressablearray-specific portion, and, thus, specific base changes would bedistinguished by capture at different addresses. In this scheme, aplurality of different capture oligonucleotides are attached atdifferent locations on the solid support for multiplex detection ofadditional nucleic acid sequences differing from other nucleic acids byat least a single base. Alternatively, the first oligonucleotide probecontains common addressable array-specific portions, and the secondoligonucleotide probes have different detectable labels andtarget-specific portions.

[0077] Such arrangements permit multiplex detection of additionalnucleic acid sequences differing from other nucleic acids by at least asingle base. The nucleic acids sequences can be on the same or differentalleles when carrying out such multiplex detection.

[0078] The present invention also relates to a kit for carrying out themethod of the present invention which includes the ligase, the pluralityof different oligonucleotide probe sets, and the solid support withimmobilized capture oligonucleotides. Primers for preliminaryamplification of the target nucleotide sequences may also be included inthe kit. If amplification is by polymerase chain reaction, polymerasemay also be included in the kit.

[0079]FIGS. 1 and 2 show flow diagrams of the process of the presentinvention compared to a prior art ligase detection reaction utilizingcapillary or gel electrophoresis/fluorescent quantification. FIG. 1relates to detection of a germline mutation detection, while FIG. 2shows the detection of cancer.

[0080]FIG. 1 depicts the detection of a germline point mutation, such asthe p53 mutations responsible for Li-Fraumeni syndrome. In step 1, afterDNA sample preparation, exons 5-8 are PCR amplified using Taq (i.e.Thermus aquaticus) polymerase under hot start conditions. At the end ofthe reaction, Taq polymerase is degraded by heating at 100° C. for 10min. Products are diluted 20-fold in step 2 into fresh LDR buffercontaining allele-specific and common LDR probes. A tube generallycontains about 100 to 200 fmoles of each primer. In step 3, the ligasedetection reaction is initiated by addition of Taq ligase under hotstart conditions. The LDR probes ligate to their adjacent probes only inthe presence of target sequence which gives perfect complementarity atthe junction site. The products may be detected in two differentformats. In the first format 4a., used in the prior art,fluorescently-labeled LDR probes contain different length poly A orhexaethylene oxide tails. Thus, each LDR product, resulting fromligation to normal DNA with a slightly different mobility, yields aladder of peaks. A germline mutation would generate a new peak on theelectrophorogram. The size of the new peak will approximate the amountof the mutation present in the original sample; 0% for homozygousnormal, 50% for heterozygous carrier, or 100% for homozygous mutant. Inthe second format 4b., in accordance with the present invention, eachallele-specific probe contains e.g., 24 additional nucleotide bases ontheir 5′ ends. These sequences are unique addressable sequences whichwill specifically hybridize to their complementary address sequences onan addressable array. In the LDR reaction, each allele-specific probecan ligate to its adjacent fluorescently labeled common probe in thepresence of the corresponding target sequence. Wild type and mutantalleles are captured on adjacent addresses on the array. Unreactedprobes are washed away. The black dots indicate 100% signal for the wildtype allele. The white dots indicate 0% signal for the mutant alleles.The shaded dots indicate the one position of germline mutation, 50%signal for each allele.

[0081]FIG. 2 depicts detection of somatic cell mutations in the p53tumor suppressor gene but is general for all low sensitivity mutationdetection. In step 1, DNA samples are prepared and exons 5-9 are PCRamplified as three fragments using fluorescent PCR primers. This allowsfor fluorescent quantification of PCR products in step 2 using capillaryor gel electrophoresis. In step 3, the products are spiked with a 1/100dilution of marker DNA (for each of the three fragments). This DNA ishomologous to wild type DNA, except it contains a mutation which is notobserved in cancer cells, but which may be readily detected with theappropriate LDR probes. The mixed DNA products in step 4 are diluted20-fold into buffer containing all the LDR probes which are specificonly to mutant or marker alleles. In step 5, the ligase reaction isinitiated by addition of Taq ligase under hot start conditions. The LDRprobes ligate to their adjacent probes only in the presence of targetsequences which give perfect complementarity at the junction site. Theproducts may be detected in the same two formats described in FIG. 1. Inthe format of step 6a, which is used in the prior art, products areseparated by capillary or gel electrophoresis, and fluorescent signalsare quantified. Ratios of mutant peaks to marker peaks give approximateamount of cancer mutations present in the original sample divided by100. In the format of step 6b, in accordance with the present invention,products are detected by specific hybridization to complementarysequences on an addressable array. Ratios of fluorescent signals inmutant dots to marker dots give the approximate amount of cancermutations present in the original sample divided by 100.

[0082] The ligase detection reaction process, in accordance with thepresent invention, is best understood by referring to FIGS. 3-10. It isdescribed generally in WO 90/17239 to Barany et al., F. Barany et al.,“Cloning, Overexpression and Nucleotide Sequence of a Thermostable DNALigase-encoding Gene,” Gene, 109:1-11 (1991), and F. Barany, “GeneticDisease Detection and DNA Amplification Using Cloned ThermostableLigase,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88:189-193 (1991), the disclosuresof which are hereby incorporated by reference. In accordance with thepresent invention, the ligase detection reaction can use 2 sets ofcomplementary oligonucleotides. This is known as the ligase chainreaction which is described in the 3 immediately preceding references,which are hereby incorporated by reference. Alternatively, the ligasedetection reaction can involve a single cycle which is known as theoligonucleotide ligation assay. See Landegren, et al., “ALigase-Mediated Gene Detection Technique,” Science 241:1077-80 (1988);Landegren, et al., “DNA Diagnostics—Molecular Techniques andAutomation,” Science 242:229-37 (1988); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,617 toLandegren, et al.

[0083] During the ligase detection reaction phase of the process, thedenaturation treatment is carried out at a temperature of 80-105° C.,while hybridization takes place at 50-85° C. Each cycle comprises adenaturation treatment and a thermal hybridization treatment which intotal is from about one to five minutes long. Typically, the ligationdetection reaction involves repeatedly denaturing and hybridizing for 2to 50 cycles. The total time for the ligase detection reaction phase ofthe process is 1 to 250 minutes.

[0084] The oligonucleotide probe sets can be in the form ofribonucleotides, deoxynucleotides, modified ribonucleotides, modifieddeoxyribonucleotides, peptide nucleotide analogues, modified peptidenucleotide analogues, modified phosphate-sugar-backboneoligonucleotides, nucleotide analogs, and mixtures thereof.

[0085] In one variation, the oligonucleotides of the oligonucleotideprobe sets each have a hybridization or melting temperature (i.e. T_(m))of 66-70° C. These oligonucleotides are 20-28 nucleotides long.

[0086] It may be desirable to destroy chemically or enzymaticallyunconverted LDR oligonucleotide probes that contain addressablenucleotide array-specific portions prior to capture of the ligationproducts on a DNA array. Such unconverted probes will otherwise competewith ligation products for binding at the addresses on the array of thesolid support which contain complementary sequences. Destruction can beaccomplished by utilizing an exonuclease, such as exonuclease III (L-HGuo and R. Wu, Methods in Enzymology 100:60-96 (1985), which is herebyincorporated by reference) in combination with LDR probes that areblocked at the ends and not involved with ligation of probes to oneanother. The blocking moiety could be a reporter group or aphosphorothioate group. T. T. Nikiforow, et al., “The Use ofPhosphorothioate Primers and Exonuclease Hydrolysis for the Preparationof Single-stranded PCR Products and their Detection by Solid-phaseHybridization,” PCR Methods and Applications, 3:p.285-291 (1994), whichis hereby incorporated by reference. After the LDR process, unligatedprobes are selectively destroyed by incubation of the reaction mixturewith the exonuclease. The ligated probes are protected due to theelimination of free 3′ ends which are required for initiation of theexonuclease reaction. This approach results in an increase in thesignal-to-noise ratio, especially where the LDR reaction forms only asmall amount of product. Since unligated oligonucleotides compete forcapture by the capture oligonucleotide, such competition with theligated oligonucleotides lowers the signal. An additional advantage ofthis approach is that unhybridized label-containing sequences aredegraded and, therefore, are less able to cause a target-independentbackground signal, because they can be removed more easily from the DNAarray by washing.

[0087] The oligonucleotide probe sets, as noted above, have a reporterlabel suitable for detection. Useful labels include chromophores,fluorescent moieties, enzymes, antigens, heavy metals, magnetic probes,dyes, phosphorescent groups, radioactive materials, chemiluminescentmoieties, and electrochemical detecting moieties. The captureoligonucleotides can be in the form of ribonucleotides,deoxyribonucleotides, modified ribonucleotides, modifieddeoxyribonucleotides, peptide nucleotide analogues, modified peptidenucleotide analogues, modified phosphate-sugar backboneoligonucleotides, nucleotide analogues, and mixtures thereof. Where theprocess of the present invention involves use of a plurality ofoligonucleotide sets, the second oligonucleotide probes can be the same,while the addressable array-specific portions of the firstoligonucleotide probes differ. Alternatively, the addressablearray-specific portions of the first oligonucleotide probes may be thesame, while the reporter labels of the second oligonucleotide probes aredifferent.

[0088] Prior to the ligation detection reaction phase of the presentinvention, the sample is preferably amplified by an initial targetnucleic acid amplification procedure. This increases the quantity of thetarget nucleotide sequence in the sample. For example, the initialtarget nucleic acid amplification may be accomplished using thepolymerase chain reaction process, self-sustained sequence replication,or Q-β replicase-mediated RNA amplification. The polymerase chainreaction process is the preferred amplification procedure and is fullydescribed in H. Erlich, et. al., “Recent Advances in the PolymeraseChain Reaction,” Science 252:1643-50 (1991); M. Innis, et. al., PCRProtocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications, Academic Press: New York(1990); and R. Saiki, et. al., “Primer-directed Enzymatic Amplificationof DNA with a Thermostable DNA Polymerase,” Science 239: 487-91 (1988),which are hereby incorporated by reference. J. Guatelli, et. al.,“Isothermal, in vitro Amplification of Nucleic Acids by a MultienzymeReaction Modeled After Retroviral Replication,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 87: 1874-78 (1990), which is hereby incorporated by reference,describes the self-sustained sequence replication process. The Q-βreplicase-mediated RNA amplification is disclosed in F. Kramer, et. al.,“Replicatable RNA Reporters,” Nature 339: 401-02 (1989), which is herebyincorporated by reference.

[0089] The use of the polymerase chain reaction process and then theligase detection process, in accordance with the present invention, isshown in FIG. 3. Here, homo- or heterozygosity at two polymorphisms(i.e. allele differences) are on the same gene. Such allele differencescan alternatively be on different genes.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 3, the target nucleic acid, when present in theform of a double stranded DNA molecule is denatured to separate thestrands. This is achieved by heating to a temperature of 80-105° C.Polymerase chain reaction primers are then added and allowed tohybridize to the strands, typically at a temperature of 20-85° C. Athermostable polymerase (e.g., Thermus aquaticus polymerase) is alsoadded, and the temperature is then adjusted to 50-85° C. to extend theprimer along the length of the nucleic acid to which the primer ishybridized. After the extension phase of the polymerase chain reaction,the resulting double stranded molecule is heated to a temperature of80-10.5° C. to denature the molecule and to separate the strands. Thesehybridization, extension, and denaturation steps may be repeated anumber of times to amplify the target to an appropriate level.

[0091] Once the polymerase chain reaction phase of the process iscompleted, the ligation detection reaction phase begins, as shown inFIG. 3. After denaturation of the target nucleic acid, if present as adouble stranded DNA molecule, at a temperature of 80-105° C., preferably94° C., ligation detection reaction oligonucleotide probes for onestrand of the target nucleotide sequence are added along with a ligase(for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a thermostable ligase like Thermusaquaticus ligase). The oligonucleotide probes are then allowed tohybridize to the target nucleic acid molecule and ligate together,typically, at a temperature of 45-85° C., preferably, 65° C. When thereis perfect complementarity at the ligation junction, theoligonucleotides can be ligated together. Where the variable nucleotideis T or A, the presence of T in the target nucleotide sequence willcause the oligonucleotide probe with the addressable array-specificportion Z1 to ligate to the oligonucleotide probe with the reporterlabel F, and the presence of A in the target nucleotide sequence willcause the oligonucleotide probe with the addressable array-specificportion Z2 to ligate to the oligonucleotide probe with reporter label F.Similarly, where the variable nucleotide is A or G, the presence of T inthe target nucleotide sequence will cause the oligonucleotide probe withaddressable array-specific portion Z4 to ligate to the oligonucleotideprobe with the reporter label F, and the presence of C in the targetnucleotide sequence will cause the oligonucleotide probe with theaddressable array-specific portion Z3 to ligate to the oligonucleotideprobe with reporter label F. Following ligation, the material is againsubjected to denaturation to separate the hybridized strands. Thehybridization/ligation and denaturation steps can be carried through oneor more cycles (e.g., 1 to 50 cycles) to amplify the target signal.Fluorescent ligation products (as well as unligated oligonucleotideprobes having an addressable array-specific portion) are captured byhybridization to capture probes complementary to portions Z1, Z2, Z3,and Z4 at particular addresses on the addressable arrays. The presenceof ligated oligonucleotides is then detected by virtue of the label Foriginally on one of the oligonucleotides. In FIG. 3, ligated productsequences hybridize to the array at addresses with captureoligonucleotides complementary to addressable array-specific portions Z1and Z3, while unligated oligonucleotide probes with addressablearray-specific portions Z2 and Z4 hybridize to their complementarycapture oligonucleotides. However, since only the ligated productsequences have label F, only their presence is detected.

[0092]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, which distinguishes any possible base at a givensite. Appearance of fluorescent signal at the addresses complementary toaddressable array-specific portions Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4 indicates thepresence of A, G, C, and T alleles in the target nucleotide sequence,respectively. Here, the presence of the A and C alleles in the targetnucleotide sequences is indicated due to the fluorescence at theaddresses on the solid support with capture oligonucleotide probescomplementary to portions Z1 and Z3, respectively. Note that in FIG. 4the addressable array-specific portions are on the discriminatingoligonucleotide probes, and the discriminating base is on the 3′ end ofthese probes.

[0093]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, for detecting the presence of any possible baseat two nearby sites. Here, the LDR primers are able to overlap, yet arestill capable of ligating provided there is perfect complementarity atthe junction. This distinguishes LDR from other approaches, such asallele-specific PCR where overlapping primers would interfere with oneanother. In FIG. 5, the first nucleotide position is heterozygous at theA and C alleles, while the second nucleotide position is heterozygous tothe G, C, and T alleles. As in FIG. 4, the addressable array-specificportions are on the discriminating oligonucleotide probes, and thediscriminating base is on the 3′ end of these probes. The reporter group(e.g., the fluorescent label) is on the 3′ end of the commonoligonucleotide probes. This is possible for example with the 21hydroxylase gene, where each individual has 2 normal and 2 pseudogenes,and, at the intron 2 splice site (nucleotide 656), there are 3 possiblesingle bases (G, A, and C). Also, this can be used to detect lowabundance mutations in HIV infections which might indicate emergence ofdrug resistant (e.g., to AZT) strains. Returning to FIG. 5, appearanceof fluorescent signal at the addresses complementary to addressablearray-specific portions Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5, Z6, Z7, and Z8 indicates thepresence of the A, G, C, and T, respectively, in the site heterozygousat the A and C alleles, and A, G, C, and T, respectively, in the siteheterozygous at the G, C, and T alleles.

[0094]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, where insertions (top left set of probes) anddeletions (bottom right set of probes) are distinguished. On the left,the normal sequence contains 5 A's in a polyA tract. The mutant sequencehas an additional 2As inserted into the tract. Therefore, the LDRproducts with addressable array-specific portions Z1 (representing thenormal sequence) and Z3 (representing a 2 base pair insertion) would befluorescently labeled by ligation to the common primer. While the LDRprocess (e.g., using a thermostable ligase enzyme) has no difficultydistinguishing single base insertions or deletions in mononucleotiderepeats, allele-specific PCR is unable to distinguish such differences,because the 3′ base remains the same for both alleles. On the right, thenormal sequence is a (CA)5 repeat (i.e. CACACACACA). The mutant containstwo less CA bases than the normal sequence (i.e. CACACA). These would bedetected as fluorescent LDR products at the addressable array-specificportions Z8 (representing the normal sequence) and Z6 (representing the2 CA deletion) addresses. The resistance of various infectious agents todrugs can also be determined using the present invention. In FIG. 6, thepresence of ligated product sequences, as indicated by fluorescent labelF, at the address having capture oligonucleotides complementary to Z1and Z3 demonstrates the presence of both the normal and mutant poly Asequences. Similarly, the presence of ligated product sequences, asindicated by fluorescent label F, at the address having captureoligonucleotides complementary to Z6 and Z8 demonstrates the presence ofboth the normal CA repeat and a sequence with one repeat unit deleted.

[0095]FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, using addressable array-specific portions todetect a low abundance mutation in the presence of an excess of normalsequence. FIG. 7 shows codon 12 of the K-ras gene, sequence GGT, whichcodes for glycine (“Gly”). A small percentage of the cells contain the Gto A mutation in GAT, which codes for aspartic acid (“Asp”). The LDRprobes for wild-type (i.e. normal sequences) are missing from thereaction. If the normal LDR probes (with the discriminating base=G) wereincluded, they would ligate to the common probes and overwhelm anysignal coming from the mutant target. Instead, as shown in FIG. 7, theexistence of a ligated product sequence with fluorescent label F at theaddress with a capture oligonucleotide complementary to addressablearray-specific portion Z4 indicates the presence of the aspartic acidencoding mutant.

[0096]FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, where the addressable array-specific portion isplaced on the common oligonucleotide probe, while the discriminatingoligonucleotide probe has the reporter label. Allele differences aredistinguished by different fluorescent signals, F1, F2, F3, and F4. Thismode allows for a more dense use of the arrays, because each position ispredicted to light up with some group. It has the disadvantage ofrequiring fluorescent groups which have minimal overlap in theiremission spectra and will require multiple scans. It is not ideallysuitable for detection of low abundance alleles (e.g., cancer associatedmutations).

[0097]FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, where both adjacent and nearby alleles aredetected. The adjacent mutations are right next to each other, and oneset of oligonucleotide probes discriminates the bases on the 3′ end ofthe junction (by use of different addressable array-specific portionsZ1, Z2, Z3, and Z4), while the other set of oligonucleotide probesdiscriminates the bases on the 5′ end of the junction (by use ofdifferent fluorescent reporter labels F1, F2, F3, and F4). In FIG. 9,codons in a disease gene (e.g. CFTR for cystic fibrosis) encoding Glyand arginine (“Arg”), respectively, are candidates for germlinemutations. The detection results in FIG. 9 show the Gly (GGA; indicatedby the ligated product sequence having portion Z2 and label F2) has beenmutated to glutamic acid (“Glu”) (GAA; indicated by the ligated productsequence having portion Z2 and label F1), and the Arg (CGG; indicated bythe ligated product sequence having portion Z7 and label F2) has beenmutated to tryptophan (“Trp”) (TGG; indicated by the ligated productsequence with portion Z8 and label F2). Therefore, the patient is acompound heterozygous individual (i.e. with allele mutations in bothgenes) and will have the disease.

[0098]FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a PCR/LDR process, in accordance withthe present invention, where all possible single-base mutations for asingle codon are detected. Most amino acid codons have a degeneracy inthe third base, thus the first two positions can determine all thepossible mutations at the protein level. These amino acids includearginine, leucine, serine, threonine, proline, alanine, glycine, andvaline. However, some amino acids are determined by all three bases inthe codon and, thus, require the oligonucleotide probes to distinguishmutations in 3 adjacent positions. By designing four oligonucleotideprobes containing the four possible bases in the penultimate position tothe 3′ end, as well as designing an additional four captureoligonucleotides containing the four possible bases at the 3′ end, asshown in FIG. 10, this problem has been solved. The commonoligonucleotide probes with the reporter labels only have twofluorescent groups which correspond to the codon degeneracies anddistinguish between different ligated product sequences which arecaptured at the same array address. For example, as shown in FIG. 10,the presence of a glutamine (“Gln”) encoding codon (i.e., CAA and CAG)is indicated by the presence of a ligated product sequence containingportion Z1 and label F2. Likewise, the existence of a Gln to histidine(“His”) encoding mutation (coded by the codon CAC) is indicated by thepresence of ligated product sequences with portion Z1 and label F2 andwith portion Z7 and label F2 There is an internal redundancy built intothis assay due to the fact that primers Z1 and Z7 have the identicalsequence.

[0099] A particularly important aspect of the present invention is itscapability to quantify the amount of target nucleotide sequence in asample. This can be achieved in a number of ways by establishingstandards which can be internal (i.e. where the standard establishingmaterial is amplified and detected with the sample) or external (i.e.where the standard establishing material is not amplified, and isdetected with the sample).

[0100] In accordance with one quantification method, the signalgenerated by the reporter label, resulting from capture of ligatedproduct sequences produced from the sample being analyzed, are detected.The strength of this signal is compared to a calibration curve producedfrom signals generated by capture of ligated product sequences insamples with known amounts of target nucleotide sequence. As a result,the amount of target nucleotide sequence in the sample being analyzedcan be determined. This techniques involves use of an external standard.

[0101] Another quantification method, in accordance with the presentinvention, relates to an internal standard. Here, a known amount of oneor more marker target nucleotide sequences are added to the sample. Inaddition, a plurality of marker-specific oligonucleotide probe sets areadded along with the ligase, the previously-discussed oligonucleotideprobe sets, and the sample to a mixture. The marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets have (1) a first oligonucleotide probe with atarget-specific portion complementary to the marker target nucleotidesequence and an addressable array-specific portion complementary tocapture oligonucleotides on the solid support and (2) a secondoligonucleotide probe with a target-specific portion complementary tothe marker target nucleotide sequence and a detectable reporter label.The oligonucleotide probes in a particular marker-specificoligonucleotide set are suitable for ligation together when hybridizedadjacent to one another on a corresponding marker target nucleotidesequence.

[0102] However, there is a mismatch which interferes with such ligationwhen hybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in the sampleor added marker sequences. The presence of ligated product sequencescaptured on the solid support is identified by detection of reporterlabels. The amount of target nucleotide sequences in the sample is thendetermined by comparing the amount of captured ligated product generatedfrom known amounts of marker target nucleotide sequences with the amountof other ligated product sequences captured.

[0103] Another quantification method in accordance with the presentinvention involves analysis of a sample containing two or more of aplurality of target nucleotide sequences with a plurality of sequencedifferences. Here, ligated product sequences corresponding to the targetnucleotide sequences are detected and distinguished by any of thepreviously-discussed techniques. The relative amounts of the targetnucleotide sequences in the sample are then quantified by comparing therelative amounts of captured ligated product sequences generated. Thisprovides a quantitative measure of the relative level of the targetnucleotide sequences in the sample.

[0104] The ligase detection reaction process phase of the presentinvention can be preceded by the ligase chain reaction process toachieve oligonucleotide product amplification. This process is fullydescribed in F. Barany, et. al., “Cloning, Overexpression and NucleotideSequence of a Thermostable DNA Ligase-encoding Gene,” Gene 109: 1-11(1991) and F. Barany, “Genetic Disease Detection and DNA AmplificationUsing Cloned Thermostable Ligase,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 189-93(1991), which are hereby incorporated by reference. Instead of using theligase chain reaction to achieve amplification, a transcription-basedamplifying procedure can be used.

[0105] The preferred thermostable ligase is that derived from Thermusaquaticus. This enzyme can be isolated from that organism. M. Takahashi,et al., “Thermophillic DNA Ligase,” J. Biol. Chem. 259:10041-47 (1984),which is hereby incorporated by reference. Alternatively, it can beprepared recombinantly. Procedures for such isolation as well as therecombinant production of Thermus aquaticus ligase as well as Thermusthemophilus ligase) are disclosed in WO 90/17239 to Barany, et. al., andF. Barany, et al., “Cloning, Overexpression and Nucleotide Sequence of aThermostable DNA-Ligase Encoding Gene,” Gene 109:1-11 (1991), which arehereby incorporated by reference. These references contain completesequence information for this ligase as well as the encoding DNA. Othersuitable ligases include E. coli ligase, T4 ligase, and Pyrococcusligase.

[0106] The ligation amplification mixture may include a carrier DNA,such as salmon sperm DNA.

[0107] The hybridization step, which is preferably a thermalhybridization treatment, discriminates between nucleotide sequencesbased on a distinguishing nucleotide at the ligation junctions. Thedifference between the target nucleotide sequences can be, for example,a single nucleic acid base difference, a nucleic acid deletion, anucleic acid insertion, or rearrangement. Such sequence differencesinvolving more than one base can also be detected. Preferably, theoligonucleotide probe sets have substantially the same length so thatthey hybridize to target nucleotide sequences at substantially similarhybridization conditions. As a result, the process of the presentinvention is able to detect infectious diseases, genetic diseases, andcancer. It is also useful in environmental monitoring, forensics, andfood science.

[0108] A wide variety of infectious diseases can be detected by theprocess of the present invention. Typically, these are caused bybacterial, viral, parasite, and fungal infectious agents. The resistanceof various infectious agents to drugs can also be determined using thepresent invention.

[0109] Bacterial infectious agents which can be detected by the presentinvention include Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Klebsiella,Pseudomonas, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare, Yersinia, Francisella, Pasteurella,Brucella, Clostridia, Bordetella pertussis, Bacteroides, Staphylococcusaureus, Streptococcus pneumonia, B-Hemolytic strep., Corynebacteria,Legionella, Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma, Chlamydia, Neisseria gonorrhea,Neisseria meningitides, Hemophilus influenza, Enterococcus faecalis,Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis, Helicobacter pylori, Treponemapalladium, Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia recurrentis, Rickettsialpathogens, Nocardia, and Acitnomycetes.

[0110] Fungal infectious agents which can be detected by the presentinvention include Cryptococcus neoformans, Blastomyces dermatitidis,Histoplasma capsulatum, Coccidioides immitis, Paracoccicioidesbrasiliensis, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigautus, Phycomycetes(Rhizopus), Sporothrix schenckii, Chromomycosis, and Maduromycosis.

[0111] Viral infectious agents which can be detected by the presentinvention include human immunodeficiency virus, human T-celllymphocytotrophic virus, hepatitis viruses (e.g., Hepatitis B Virus andHepatitis C Virus), Epstein-Barr Virus, cytomegalovirus, humanpapillomaviruses, orthomyxo viruses, paramyxo viruses, adenoviruses,corona viruses, rhabdo viruses, polio viruses, toga viruses, bunyaviruses, arena viruses, rubella viruses, and reo viruses.

[0112] Parasitic agents which can be detected by the present inventioninclude Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malaria, Plasmodium vivax,Plasmodium ovale, Onchoverva volvulus, Leishmania, Trypanosoma spp.,Schistosoma spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidum, Giardia spp.,Trichimonas spp., Balatidium coli, Wuchereria bancrofti, Toxoplasmaspp., Enterobius vermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuristrichiura, Dracunculus medinesis, trematodes, Diphyllobothrium latum,Taenia spp., Pneumocystis carinii, and Necator americanis.

[0113] The present invention is also useful for detection of drugresistance by infectious agents. For example, vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus faecium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus,penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, multi-drug resistantMycobacterium tuberculosis, and AZT-resistant human immunodeficiencyvirus can all be identified with the present invention.

[0114] Genetic diseases can also be detected by the process of thepresent invention. This can be carried out by prenatal screening forchromosomal and genetic aberrations or post natal screening for geneticdiseases. Examples of detectable genetic diseases include: 21hydroxylase deficiency, cystic fibrosis, Fragile X Syndrome, TurnerSyndrome, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Down Syndrome or other trisomies,heart disease, single gene diseases, HLA typing, phenylketonuria, sicklecell anemia, Tay-Sachs Syndrome, thalassemia, Klinefelter's Syndrome,Huntington's Disease, autoimmune diseases, lipidosis, obesity defects,hemophilia, inborn errors in metabolism, and diabetes.

[0115] Cancers which can be detected by the process of the presentinvention generally involve oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, or genesinvolved in DNA amplification, replication, recombination, or repair.Examples of these include: BRCA1 gene, p53 gene, Familial polyposiscoli, Her2/Neu amplification, Bcr/Ab1, K-ras gene, human papillomavirusTypes 16 and 18, leukemia, colon cancer, breast cancer, Lung cancer,prostate cancer, brain tumors, central nervous system tumors, bladdertumors, melanomas, liver cancer, osteosarcoma and other bone cancers,testicular and ovarian carcinomas, ENT tumors, and loss ofheterozygosity.

[0116] In the area of environmental monitoring, the present inventioncan be used for detection, identification, and monitoring of pathogenicand indigenous microorganisms in natural and engineered ecosystems andmicrocosms such as in municipal waste water purification systems andwater reservoirs or in polluted areas undergoing bioremediation. It isalso possible to detect plasmids containing genes that can metabolizexenobiotics, to monitor specific target microorganisms in populationdynamic studies, or either to detect, identify, or monitor geneticallymodified microorganisms in the environment and in industrial plants.

[0117] The present invention can also be used in a variety or forensicareas, including for human identification for military personnel andcriminal investigation, paternity testing and family relation analysis,HLA compatibility typing, and screening blood, sperm, or transplantationorgans for contamination.

[0118] In the food and feed industry, the present invention has a widevariety of applications. For example, it can be used for identificationand characterization of production organisms such as yeast forproduction of beer, wine, cheese, yogurt, bread, etc. Another area ofuse is with regard to quality control and certification of products andprocesses (e.g., livestock, pasteurization, and meat processing) forcontaminants. Other uses include the characterization of plants, bulbs,and seeds for breeding purposes, identification of the presence ofplant-specific pathogens, and detection and identification of veterinaryinfections.

[0119] Desirably, the oligonucleotide probes are suitable for ligationtogether at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one anotheron a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction. However, when theoligonucleotide probes in the set are hybridized to any other nucleotidesequence present in the sample, there is a mismatch at a base at theligation junction which interferes with ligation. Most preferably, themismatch is at the base adjacent the 3′ base at the ligation junction.Alternatively, the mismatch can be at the bases adjacent to bases at theligation junction.

[0120] The process of the present invention is able to detect the firstand second nucleotide sequences in the sample in an amount of 100attomoles to 250 femtomoles. By coupling the LDR step with a primarypolymerase-directed amplification step, the entire process of thepresent invention is able to detect target nucleotide sequences in asample containing as few as a single molecule. Furthermore, PCRamplified products, which often are in the picomole amounts, may easilybe diluted within the above range. The ligase detection reactionachieves a rate of formation of mismatched ligated product sequenceswhich is less than 0.005 of the rate of formation of matched ligatedproduct sequences.

[0121] Once the ligation phase of the process is completed, the capturephase is initiated. During the capture phase of the process, the mixtureis contacted with the solid support at a temperature of 45-90° C. andfor a time period of up to 60 minutes. Hybridizations may be acceleratedby adding volume exclusion or chaotropic agents. When an array consistsof dozens to hundreds of addresses, it is important that the correctligation products have an opportunity to hybridize to the appropriateaddress. This may be achieved by the thermal motion of oligonucleotidesat the high temperatures used, by mechanical movement of the fluid incontact with the array surface, or by moving the oligonucleotides acrossthe array by electric fields. After hybridization, the array is washedsequentially with a low stringency wash buffer and then a highstringency wash buffer.

[0122] It is important to select capture oligonucleotides andaddressable nucleotide sequences which will hybridize in a stablefashion. This requires that the oligonucleotide sets and the captureoligonucleotides be configured so that the oligonucleotide setshybridize to the target nucleotide sequences at a temperature less thanthat which the capture oligonucleotides hybridize to the addressablearray-specific portions. Unless the oligonucleotides are designed inthis fashion, false positive signals may result due to capture ofadjacent unreacted oligonucleotides from the same oligonucleotide setwhich are hybridized to the target.

[0123] The detection phase of the process involves scanning andidentifying if ligation of particular oligonucleotide sets occurred andcorrelating ligation to a presence or absence of the target nucleotidesequence in the test sample. Scanning can be carried out by scanningelectron microscopy, confocal microscopy, charge-coupled device,scanning tunneling electron microscopy, infrared microscopy, atomicforce microscopy, electrical conductance, and fluorescent or phosphorimaging. Correlating is carried out with a computer.

[0124] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method offorming an array of oligonucleotides on a solid support. This methodinvolves providing a solid support having an array of positions eachsuitable for attachment of an oligonucleotide. A linker or support(preferably non-hydrolyzable), suitable for coupling an oligonucleotideto the solid support at each of the array positions, is attached to thesolid support. An array of oligonucleotides on a solid support is formedby a series of cycles of activating selected array positions forattachment of multimer nucleotides and attaching multimer nucleotides atthe activated array positions.

[0125] Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to an arrayof oligonucleotides on a solid support per se. The solid support has anarray of positions each suitable for an attachment of anoligonucleotide. A linker or support (preferably non-hydrolyzable),suitable for coupling an oligonucleotide to the solid support, isattached to the solid support at each of the array positions. An arrayof oligonucleotides are placed on a solid support with at least some ofthe array positions being occupied by oligonucleotides having greaterthan sixteen nucleotides.

[0126] In the method of forming arrays, multimer oligonucleotides fromdifferent multimer oligonucleotide sets are attached at different arraypositions on a solid support. As a result, the solid support has anarray of positions with different groups of multimer oligonucleotidesattached at different positions.

[0127] The 1,000 different addresses can be unique captureoligonucleotide sequences (e.g., 24-mer) linked covalently to thetarget-specific sequence (e.g., approximately 20- to 25-mer) of a LDRoligonucleotide probe. A capture oligonucleotide probe sequence does nothave any homology to either the target sequence or to other sequences ongenomes which may be present in the sample. This oligonucleotide probeis then captured by its addressable array-specific portion, a sequencecomplementary to the capture oligonucleotide on the addressable solidsupport array. The concept is shown in two possible formats, forexample, for detection of the p53 R248 mutation (FIGS. 13A-B).

[0128] In FIGS. 13A-B, the top portion of the diagram shows twoalternative formats for oligonucleotide probe design to identify thepresence of a germ line mutation in codon 248 of the p53 tumorsuppressor gene. The wild type sequence codes for arginine (R248), whilethe cancer mutation codes for tryptophan (R248W). The bottom part of thediagram is a schematic diagram of the capture oligonucleotide. The thickhorizontal line depicts the membrane or solid surface containing theaddressable array. The thin curved lines indicate a flexible linker arm.The thicker lines indicate a capture oligonucleotide sequence, attachedto the solid surface in the C to N direction. For illustrative purposes,the capture oligonucleotides are drawn vertically, making the linker armin section B appear “stretched”. Since the arm is flexible, the captureoligonucleotide will be able to hybridize 5′ to C and 3′ to N in eachcase, as dictated by base pair complementarity. A similar orientation ofoligonucleotide hybridization would be allowed if the oligonucleotideswere attached to the membrane at the N-terminus. In this case, DNA/PNAhybridization would be in standard antiparallel 5′ to 3′ and 3′ to 5′.Other modified sugar-phosphate backbones would be used in a similarfashion. FIG. 13A shows two LDR primers that are designed todiscriminate wild type and mutant p53 by containing the discriminatingbase C or T at the 3′ end. In the presence of the correct target DNA andTth ligase, the discriminating probe is covalently attached to a commondownstream oligonucleotide. The downstream oligonucleotide isfluorescently labeled. The discriminating oligonucleotides aredistinguished by the presence of unique addressable array-specificportions, Z1 and Z2, at each of their 5′ ends. A black dot indicatesthat target dependent ligation has taken place. After ligation,oligonucleotide probes may be captured by their complementaryaddressable array-specific portions at unique addresses on the array.Both ligated and unreacted oligonucleotide probes are captured by theoligonucleotide array. Unreacted fluorescently labeled common primersand target DNA are then washed away at a high temperature (approximately65° C. to 80° C.) and low salt. Mutant signal is distinguished bydetection of fluorescent signal at the capture oligonucleotidecomplementary to addressable array-specific portion Z1, while wild typesignal appears at the capture oligonucleotide complementary toaddressable array-specific portion Z2. Heterozygosity is indicated byequal signals at the capture oligonucleotides complementary toaddressable array-specific portions Z1 and Z2. The signals may bequantified using a fluorescent imager. This format uses a unique addressfor each allele and may be preferred for achieving very accuratedetection of low levels of signal (30 to 100 attomoles of LDR product).FIG. 13B shows the discriminating signals may be quantified using afluorescent imager. This format uses a unique address whereoligonucleotide probes are distinguished by having different fluorescentgroups, F1 and F2, on their 5′ end. Either oligonucleotide probe may beligated to a common downstream oligonucleotide probe containing anaddressable array-specific portion Z1 on its 3′ end. In this format,both wild type and mutant LDR products are captured at the same addresson the array, and are distinguished by their different fluorescence.This format allows for a more efficient use of the array and may bepreferred when trying to detect hundreds of potential germlinemutations.

[0129] The solid support can be made from a wide variety of materials.The substrate may be biological, nonbiological, organic, inorganic, or acombination of any of these, existing as particles, strands,precipitates, gels, sheets, tubing, spheres, containers, capillaries,pads, slices, films, plates, slides, discs, membranes, etc. Thesubstrate may have any convenient shape, such as a disc, square, circle,etc. The substrate is preferably flat but may take on a variety ofalternative surface configurations. For example, the substrate maycontain raised or depressed regions on which the synthesis takes place.The substrate and its surface preferably form a rigid support on whichto carry out the reactions described herein. The substrate and itssurface is also chosen to provide appropriate light-absorbingcharacteristics. For instance, the substrate may be a polymerizedLangmuir Blodgett film, functionalized glass, Si, Ge, GaAs, GaP, SiO₂,SiN₄, modified silicon, or any one of a wide variety of gels or polymerssuch as (poly)tetrafluoroethylene, (poly)vinylidenedifluoride,polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, poly(methyl acrylate), poly(methyl methacrylate), orcombinations thereof. Other substrate materials will be readily apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of this disclosure. Ina preferred embodiment, the substrate is flat glass or single-crystalsilicon.

[0130] According to some embodiments, the surface of the substrate isetched using well known techniques to provide for desired surfacefeatures. For example, by way of the formation of trenches, v-grooves,mesa structures, raised platforms, or the like, the synthesis regionsmay be more closely placed within the focus point of impinging light, beprovided with reflective “mirror” structures for maximization of lightcollection from fluorescent sources, or the like.

[0131] Surfaces on the solid substrate will usually, though not always,be composed of the same material as the substrate. Thus, the surface maybe composed of any of a wide variety of materials, for example,polymers, plastics, ceramics, polysaccharides, silica or silica-basedmaterials, carbon, metals, inorganic glasses, membranes, or compositesthereof. The surface is functionalized with binding members which areattached firmly to the surface of the substrate. Preferably, the surfacefunctionalities will be reactive groups such as silanol, olefin, amino,hydroxyl, aldehyde, keto, halo, acyl halide, or carboxyl groups. In somecases, such functionalities preexist on the substrate. For example,silica based materials have silanol groups, polysaccharides havehydroxyl groups, and synthetic polymers can contain a broad range offunctional groups, depending on which monomers they are produced from.Alternatively, if the substrate does not contain the desired functionalgroups, such groups can be coupled onto the substrate in one or moresteps.

[0132] A variety of commercially-available materials, which includesuitably modified glass, plastic, or carbohydrate surfaces or a varietyof membranes, can be used. Depending on the material, surface functionalgroups (e.g., silanol, hydroxyl, carboxyl, amino) may be present fromthe outset (perhaps as part of the coating polymer), or will require aseparate procedure (e.g., plasma amination, chromic acid oxidation,treatment with a functionalized side chain alkyltrichlorosilane) forintroduction of the functional group. Hydroxyl groups becomeincorporated into stable carbamate (urethane) linkages by severalmethods. Amino functions can be acylated directly, whereas carboxylgroups are activated, e.g., with N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole orwater-soluble carbodiimides, and reacted with an amino-functionalizedcompound. As shown in FIG. 11, the solid supports can be membranes orsurfaces with a starting functional group X. Functional grouptransformations can be carried out in a variety of ways (as needed) toprovide group X* which represents one partner in the covalent linkagewith group Y*. FIG. 11 shows specifically the grafting of PEG (i.e.polyethylene glycol), but the same repertoire of reactions can be used(however needed) to attach carbohydrates (with hydroxyl), linkers (withcarboxyl), and/or oligonucleotides that have been extended by suitablefunctional groups (amino or carboxyl). In some cases, group X* or Y* ispre-activated (isolatable species from a separate reaction);alternatively, activation occurs in situ. Referring to PEG as drawn inFIG. 11, Y and Y* can be the same (homobifunctional) or different(heterobifunctional); in the latter case, Y can be protected for furthercontrol of the chemistry. Unreacted amino groups will be blocked byacetylation or succinylation, to ensure a neutral or negatively chargedenvironment that “repels” excess unhybridized DNA. Loading levels can bedetermined by standard analytical methods. Fields, et al., “Principlesand Practice of Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis,” Synthetic Peptides: AUser's Guide, G. Grant, Editor, W. H. Freeman and Co.: New York. p.77-183 (1992), which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0133] One approach to applying functional groups on a silica-basedsupport surface is to silanize with a molecule either having the desiredfunctional group (e.g., olefin, amino, hydroxyl, aldehyde, keto, halo,acyl halide, or carboxyl) or a molecule A able to be coupled to anothermolecule B containing the desired functional group. In the former case,functionalizing of glass- or silica-based solid supports with, forexample, an amino group is carried out by reacting with an aminecompound such as 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane,3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl dimethylethoxysilane,3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl-3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane,aminophenyl trimethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyldimethyl methoxysilane,4-aminobutyl triethoxysilane, aminoethylaminomethyphenethyltrimethoxysilane, or mixtures thereof. In the latter case, molecule Apreferably contains olefinic groups, such as vinyl, acrylate,methacrylate, or allyl, while molecule B contains olefinic groups andthe desired functional groups. In this case, molecules A and B arepolymerized together. In some cases, it is desirable to modify thesilanized surface to modify its properties (e.g., to impartbiocompatibility and to increase mechanical stability). This can beachieved by addition of olefinic molecule C along with molecule B toproduce a polymer network containing molecules A, B, and C.

[0134] Molecule A is defined by the following formula:

[0135] R¹ is H or CH₃

[0136] R² is (C═O)—O—R⁶, aliphatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), an aromatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), or mixed aliphatic/aromatic groups with or withoutfunctional substituent(s);

[0137] R³ is an O-alkyl, alkyl, or halogen group;

[0138] R⁴ is an O-alkyl, alkyl, or halogen group;

[0139] R⁵ is an O-alkyl, alkyl, or halogen group; and

[0140] R⁶ is an aliphatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), an aromatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), or mixed aliphatic/aromatic groups with or withoutfunctional substituent(s). Examples of Molecule A include3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate,N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]-N′-(4-vinylbenzyl)ethylenediamine,triethoxyvinylsilane, triethylvinylsilane, vinyltrichlorosilane,vinyltrimethoxysilane, and vinylytrimethylsilane.

[0141] Molecule B can be any monomer containing one or more of thefunctional groups described above. Molecule B is defined by thefollowing formula:

[0142] (i)

[0143] R¹ is H or CH₃,

[0144] R² is (C═O), and

[0145] R³ is OH or Cl.

[0146]  or

[0147] (ii)

[0148] R¹ is H or CH₃ and

[0149] R² is (C═O)—O—R⁴, an aliphatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), an aromatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), and mixed aliphatic/aromatic groups with or withoutfunctional substituent(s); and

[0150] R³ is a functional group, such as OH, COOH, NH₂, halogen, SH,COCl, or active ester; and

[0151] R⁴ is an aliphatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), an aromatic group with or without functionalsubstituent(s), or mixed aliphatic/aromatic groups with or withoutfunctional substituent(s). Examples of molecule B include acrylic acid,acrylamide, methacrylic acid, vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid,itaconic acid, allyl amine, allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene,2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride,chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene,vinylbenzyl alcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, orpoly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate.

[0152] Molecule C can be any molecule capable of polymerizing tomolecule A, molecule B, or both and may optionally contain one or moreof the functional groups described above. Molecule C can be any monomeror cross-linker, such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, vinylaceticacid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid, allyl amine, allylethylamine,4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloyl chloride,methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene,hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzyl alcohol, allyl alcohol,2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate, methylacrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate, ethyl methacrylate,styrene, 1-vinylimidazole, 2-vinylpyridine, 4-vinylpyridine,divinylbenzene, ethylene glycol dimethacryarylate,N,N′-methylenediacrylamide, N,N′-phenylenediacrylamide,3,5-bis(acryloylamido)benzoic acid, pentaerythritol triacrylate,trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethyolpropane ethoxylate (7/3 EO/OH) triacrylate, triethylolpropanepropoxylate (1 PO/OH) triacrylate, or trimethyolpropane propoxylate (2PO/PH triacrylate).

[0153] Generally, the functional groups serve as starting points foroligonucleotides that will ultimately be coupled to the support. Thesefunctional groups can be reactive with an organic group that is to beattached to the solid support or it can be modified to be reactive withthat group, as through the use of linkers or handles. The functionalgroups can also impart various desired properties to the support.

[0154] After functionalization (if necessary) of the solid support,tailor-made polymer networks containing activated functional groups thatmay serve as carrier sites for complementary oligonucleotide captureprobes can be grafted to the support. The advantage of this approach isthat the loading capacity of capture probes can thus be increasedsignificantly, while physical properties of the intermediatesolid-to-liquid phase can be controlled better. Parameters that aresubject to optimization include the type and concentration of functionalgroup-containing monomers, as well as the type and relativeconcentration of the crosslinkers that are used.

[0155] The surface of the functionalized substrate is preferablyprovided with a layer of linker molecules, although it will beunderstood that the linker molecules are not required elements of theinvention. The linker molecules are preferably of sufficient length topermit polymers in a completed substrate to interact freely withmolecules exposed to the substrate. The linker molecules should be 6-50atoms long to provide sufficient exposure. The linker molecules may be,for example, aryl acetylene, ethylene glycol oligomers containing 2-10monomer units, diamines, diacids, amino acids, or combinations thereof.

[0156] According to alternative embodiments, the linker molecules areselected based upon their hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties to improvepresentation of synthesized polymers to certain receptors. For example,in the case of a hydrophilic receptor, hydrophilic linker molecules willbe preferred to permit the receptor to approach more closely thesynthesized polymer.

[0157] According to another alternative embodiment, linker molecules arealso provided with a photocleavable group at any intermediate position.The photocleavable group is preferably cleavable at a wavelengthdifferent from the protective group. This enables removal of the variouspolymers following completion of the syntheses by way of exposure to thedifferent wavelengths of light.

[0158] The linker molecules can be attached to the substrate viacarbon-carbon bonds using, for example, (poly)tri-fluorochloroethylenesurfaces or, preferably, by siloxane bonds (using, for example, glass orsilicon oxide surfaces). Siloxane bonds with the surface of thesubstrate may be formed in one embodiment via reactions of linkermolecules bearing trichlorosilyl groups. The linker molecules mayoptionally be attached in an ordered array, i.e., as parts of the headgroups in a polymerized monolayer. In alternative embodiments, thelinker molecules are adsorbed to the surface of the substrate.

[0159] It is often desirable to introduce a PEG spacer withcomplementary functionalization, prior to attachment of the startinglinker for DNA or PNA synthesis. G. Barany, et al., “Novel PolyethyleneGlycol-polystyrene (PEG-PS) Graft Supports for Solid-phase PeptideSynthesis,” ed. C. H. Schneider and A. N. Eberle., Leiden, TheNetherlands: Escom Science Publishers. 267-268 (1993); Zalipsky, et al.,“Preparation and Applications of Polyethylene Glycol-polystyrene GraftResin Supports, for Solid-phase Peptide Synthesis,” Reactive Polymers,22:243-58 (1994); J. M. Harris, ed. “Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Chemistry:Biotechnical and Biomedical Applications,” (1992), Plenum Press: NewYork, which are hereby incorporated by reference. Similarly, dextranlayers can be introduced as needed. Cass, et al., “Pilot, A New PeptideLead Optimization Technique and Its Application as a General LibraryMethod, in Peptides—Chemistry, Structure and Biology: Proceedings of theThirteenth American Peptide Symposium”, R. S. Hodges and J. A. Smith,Editor. (1994), Escom: Leiden, The Netherlands; Lofas, et al., “A NovelHydrogel Matrix on Gold Surface Plasma Resonance Sensors for Fast andEfficient Covalent Immobilization of Ligands,” J. Chem. Soc., Chem.Commun., pp. 1526-1528 (1990), which are hereby incorporated byreference. Particularly preferred linkers are tris(alkoxy)benzylcarbonium ions with dilute acid due to their efficient and specifictrapping with indole moieties. DNA oligonucleotides can be synthesizedand terminated with a residue of the amino acid tryptophan, andconjugated efficiently to supports that have been modified bytris(alkoxy)benzyl ester (hypersensitive acid labile (“HAL”)) ortris(alkoxy)benzylamide (“PAL”) linkers [F. Albericio, et al., J. Org.Chem., 55:3730-3743 (1990); F. Albericio and G. Barany, TetrahedronLett., 32:1015-1018 (1991)], which are hereby incorporated byreference). Other potentially rapid chemistries involve reaction ofthiols with bromoacetyl or maleimido functions. In one variation, theterminus of amino functionalized DNA is modified by bromoaceticanhydride, and the bromoacetyl function is captured by readilyestablished thiol groups on the support. Alternatively, an N-acetyl,S-tritylcysteine residue coupled to the end of the probe provides, aftercleavage and deprotection, a free thiol which can be captured by amaleimido group on the support. As shown in FIG. 12, chemicallysynthesized probes can be extended, on either end. Further variations ofthe proposed chemistries are readily envisaged. FIG. 12A shows that anamino group on the probe is modified by bromoacetic anhydride; thebromoacetyl function is captured by a thiol group on the support. FIG.12B shows that an N-acetyl, S-tritylcysteine residue coupled to the endof the probe provides, after cleavage and deprotection, a free thiolwhich is captured by a maleimido group on the support. FIG. 12C shows aprobe containing an oligo-tryptophanyl tail (n=1 to 3), which iscaptured after treatment of a HAL-modified solid support with diluteacid.

[0160] To prepare the arrays of the present invention, the solidsupports must be charged with DNA oligonucleotides or PNA oligomers.This is achieved either by attachment of pre-synthesized probes, or bydirect assembly and side-chain deprotection (without release of theoligomer) onto the support. Further, the support environment needs to besuch as to allow efficient hybridization. Toward this end, two factorsmay be identified: (i) sufficient hydrophilic character of supportmaterial (e.g., PEG or carbohydrate moieties) and (ii) flexible linkerarms (e.g., hexaethylene oxide or longer PEG chains) separating theprobe from the support backbone. It should be kept in mind that numerousostensibly “flat surfaces” are quite thick at the molecular level.Lastly, it is important that the support material not providesignificant background signal due to non-specific binding or intrinsicfluorescence.

[0161] The linker molecules and monomers used herein are provided with afunctional group to which is bound a protective group. Preferably, theprotective group is on the distal or terminal end of the linker moleculeopposite the substrate. The protective group may be either a negativeprotective group (i.e., the protective group renders the linkermolecules less reactive with a monomer upon exposure) or a positiveprotective group (i.e., the protective group renders the linkermolecules more reactive with a monomer upon exposure). In the case ofnegative protective groups, an additional step of reactivation will berequired. In some embodiments, this will be done by heating.

[0162] The protective group on the linker molecules may be selected froma wide variety of positive light-reactive groups preferably includingnitro aromatic compounds such as o-nitrobenzyl derivatives orbenzylsulfonyl. In a preferred embodiment, 6-nitroveratryloxycarbonyl(“NVOC”), 2-nitrobenzyloxycarbonyl (“NBOC”), Benzyloxycarbonyl (“BOC”),fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (“FMOC”), orα,α-dimethyl-dimethoxybenzyloxycarbonyl (“DDZ”) is used. In oneembodiment, a nitro aromatic compound containing a benzylic hydrogenortho to the nitro group is used, i.e., a chemical of the form:

[0163] where R₁ is alkoxy, alkyl, halo, aryl, alkenyl, or hydrogen; R₂is alkoxy, alkyl, halo, aryl, nitro, or hydrogen; R₃ is alkoxy, alkyl,halo, nitro, aryl, or hydrogen; F₄ is alkoxy, alkyl, hydrogen, aryl,halo, or nitro; and R₅ is alkyl, alkynyl, cyano, alkoxy, hydrogen, halo,aryl, or alkenyl. Other materials which may be used includeo-hydroxy-(α-methyl cinnamoyl derivatives. Photoremovable protectivegroups are described in, for example, Patchornik, J. Am. Chem. Soc.92:6333 (1970) and Amit et al., J. Org. Chem. 39:192 (1974), both ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

[0164] In an alternative embodiment, the positive reactive group isactivated for reaction with reagents in solution. For example, a5-bromo-7-nitro indoline group, when bound to a carbonyl, undergoesreaction upon exposure to light at 420 nm.

[0165] In a second alternative embodiment, the reactive group on thelinker molecule is selected from a wide variety of negativelight-reactive groups including a cinnamete group.

[0166] Alternatively, the reactive group is activated or deactivated byelectron beam lithography, x-ray lithography, or any other radiation. Asuitable reactive group for electron beam lithography is a sulfonylgroup. Other methods may be used including, for example, exposure to acurrent source. Other reactive groups and methods of activation may beused in view of this disclosure.

[0167] The linking molecules are preferably exposed to, for example,light through a suitable mask using photolithographic techniques of thetype known in the semiconductor industry and described in, for example,Sze, VLSI Technology, McGraw-Hill (1983), and Mead et al., Introductionto VLSI Systems, Addison-Wesley (1980), which are hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes. The light may be directed at either thesurface containing the protective groups or at the back of thesubstrate, so long as the substrate is transparent to the wavelength oflight needed for removal of the protective groups.

[0168] The mask is in one embodiment a transparent support materialselectively coated with a layer of opaque material. Portions of theopaque material are removed, leaving opaque material in the precisepattern desired on the substrate surface. The mask is brought directlyinto contact with the substrate surface. “Openings” in the maskcorrespond to locations on the substrate where it is desired to removephotoremovable protective groups from the substrate. Alignment may beperformed using conventional alignment techniques in which alignmentmarks are used accurately to overlay successive masks with previouspatterning steps, or more sophisticated techniques may be used. Forexample, interferometric techniques such as the one described inFlanders et al., “A New Interferometric Alignment Technique.” App. Phys.Lett. 31:426-428 (1977), which is hereby incorporated by reference, maybe used.

[0169] To enhance contrast of light applied to the substrate, it isdesirable to provide contrast enhancement materials between the mask andthe substrate according to some embodiments. This contrast enhancementlayer may comprise a molecule which is decomposed by light such asquinone diazide or a material which is transiently bleached at thewavelength of interest. Transient bleaching of materials will allowgreater penetration where light is applied, thereby enhancing contrast.Alternatively, contrast enhancement may be provided by way of a claddedfiber optic bundle.

[0170] The light may be from a conventional incandescent source, alaser, a laser diode, or the like. If non-collimated sources of lightare used, it may be desirable to provide a thick- or multi-layered maskto prevent spreading of the light onto the substrate. It may, further,be desirable in some embodiments to utilize groups which are sensitiveto different wavelengths to control synthesis. For example, by usinggroups which are sensitive to different wavelengths, it is possible toselect branch positions in the synthesis of a polymer or eliminatecertain masking steps.

[0171] Alternatively, the substrate may be translated under a modulatedlaser or diode light source. Such techniques are discussed in, forexample, U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,615 to Feyrer et al., which is herebyincorporated by reference. In alternative embodiments, a lasergalvanometric scanner is utilized. In other embodiments, the synthesismay take place on or in contact with a conventional liquid crystal(referred to herein as a “light valve”) or fiber optic light sources. Byappropriately modulating liquid crystals, light may be selectivelycontrolled to permit light to contact selected regions of the substrate.Alternatively, synthesis may take place on the end of a series ofoptical fibers to which light is selectively applied. Other means ofcontrolling the location of light exposure will be apparent to those ofskill in the art.

[0172] The development of linkers and handles for peptide synthesis isdescribed in Fields, et al., “Principles and Practice of Solid-PhasePeptide Synthesis,” Synthetic Peptides: A User's Guide, G. Grant,Editor. W. H. Freeman and Co.: New York. p. 77-183 (1992); G. Barany, etal., “Recent Progress on Handles and Supports for Solid-phase PeptideSynthesis”, Peptides-Chemistry,` Structure and Biology: Proceedings ofthe Thirteenth American Peptide Symposium, R. S. Hodges and J. A. Smith,Editor. Escom Science Publishers: Leiden, The Netherlands pp.1078-80(1994), which are hereby incorporated by reference. This technology isreadily extendable to DNA and PNA. Of particular interest is thedevelopment of PAL (Albericio, et al., “Preparation and Application ofthe5-(4-(9-Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl)Aminomethyl-3,5-Dimethoxyphenoxy)ValericAcid (PAL) Handle for the Solid-phase Synthesis of C-terminal PeptideAmides under Mild Conditions,” J. Org. Chem., 55:3730-3743 (1990), whichis hereby incorporated by reference, and ester (HAL) (Albericio, et al.,“Hypersensitive Acid-labile (HAL) Tris(alkoxy)Benzyl Ester Anchoring forSolid-phase Synthesis of Protected Peptide Segments,” Tetrahedron Lett.,32:1015-1018 (1991), which is hereby incorporated by reference,linkages, which upon cleavage with acid provide, respectively,C-terminal peptide amides, and protected peptide acids that can be usedas building blocks for so-called segment condensation approaches. Thestabilized carbonium ion generated in acid from cleavage of PAL or HALlinkages can be intercepted by tryptophanyl-peptides. While thisreaction is a nuisance for peptide synthesis and preventable (in part)by use of appropriate scavengers, it has the positive application ofchemically capturing oligo-Trp-end-labelled DNA and PNA molecules byHAL-modified surfaces.

[0173] The art recognizes several approaches to making oligonucleotidearrays. Southern, et al., “Analyzing and Comparing Nucleic AcidSequences by Hybridization to Arrays of Oligonucleotides: Evaluationusing Experimental Models,” Genomics, 13:1008-1017 (1992); Fodor, etal., “Multiplexed Biochemical Assays with Biological Chips,” Nature,364:555-556 (1993); Khrapko, et al., “A Method for DNA Sequencing byHybridization with Oligonucleotide Matrix,” J. DNA Seq. Map., 1 :375-388(1991); Van Ness, et al., “A Versatile Solid Support System forOligodeoxynucleoside Probe-based Hybridization Assays,” Nucleic AcidsRes., 19:3345-3350 (1991); Zhang, et al., “Single-base MutationalAnalysis of Cancer and Genetic Diseases Using Membrane Bound ModifiedOligonucleotides,” Nucleic Acids Res., 19:3929-3933 (1991); K. Beattie,“Advances in Genosensor Research,” Clin. Chem. 41(5):700-06 (1995),which are hereby incorporated by reference. These approaches may bedivided into three categories: (i) Synthesis of oligonucleotides bystandard methods and their attachment one at a time in a spatial array;(ii) Photolithographic masking and photochemical deprotection on asilicon chip, to allow for synthesis of short oligonucleotides (Fodor,et al., “Multiplexed Biochemical Assays with Biological Chips,” Nature,364:555-556 (1993) and R. J. Lipshutz, et al., “Using OligonucleotideProbe Arrays To Assess Genetic Diversity,” Biotechniques 19:442-447(1995), which are hereby incorporated by reference); and (iii) Physicalmasking to allow for synthesis of short oligonucleotides by addition ofsingle bases at the unmasked areas (Southern, et al., “Analyzing andComparing Nucleic Acid Sequences by Hybridization to Arrays ofOligonucleotides: Evaluation Using Experimental Models,” Genomics,13:1008-1017 (1992); Maskos, et al., “A Study of OligonucleotideReassociation Using Large Arrays of Oligonucleotides Synthesised on aGlass Support,” Nucleic Acids Res., 21:4663-4669 (1993), which arehereby incorporated by reference).

[0174] Although considerable progress has been made in constructingoligonucleotide arrays, some containing as many as 256 independentaddresses, these procedures are less preferred, for detecting specificDNA sequences by hybridizations. More particularly, arrays containinglonger oligonucleotides can currently be synthesized only by attachingone address at a time and, thus, are limited in potential size. Currentmethods for serially attaching an oligonucleotide take about 1 hour,thus an array of 1,000 addresses would require over 40 days ofaround-the-clock work to prepare. Arrays containing shortoligonucleotides of 8- to 10-mers do not have commercial applicability,because longer molecules are needed to detect single base differenceseffectively.

[0175] These prior procedures may still be useful to prepare saidsupports carrying an array of oligonucleotides for the method ofdetection of the present invention. However, there are more preferredapproaches.

[0176] It is desirable to produce a solid support with a good loading ofoligonucleotide or PNA oligomer in a relatively small, but well-definedarea. Current, commercially available fluorescent imagers can detect asignal as low as 3 attomoles per 50 μm square pixel. Thus, a reasonablesize address or “spot” on an array would be about 4×4 pixels, or 200 μmsquare. Smaller addresses could be used with CCD detection. The limit ofdetection for such an address would be about 48 attomoles per “spot”,which is comparable to the 100 attomole detection limit using afluorescent DNA sequencing machine. The capacity of oligonucleotideswhich can be loaded per 200 μm square will give an indication of thepotential signal to noise ratio. A loading of 20 fmoles would give asignal to noise ratio of about 400 to 1, while 200 fmoles would allowfor a superb signal to noise ratio of about 4000 to 1. Theoligonucleotide or PNA oligomer should be on a flexible “linker arm” andon the “outside” or “surface” of the solid support for easierhybridizations. The support should be non-fluorescent, and should notinterfere with hybridization nor give a high background signal due tononspecific binding.

[0177] The complementary capture oligonucleotide addresses on the solidsupports can be either DNA or PNA. PNA-based capture is preferred overDNA-based capture, because PNA/DNA duplexes are much stronger thanDNA/DNA duplexes, by about 1° C./base-pair. M. Egholm, et al., “PNAHybridizes to Complementary Oligonucleotides Obeying the Watson-CrickHydrogen-bonding Rules,” Nature, 365:566-568 (1993), which is herebyincorporated by reference. Thus, for a 24-mer DNA/DNA duplex withT_(m)=72° C., the corresponding duplex with one PNA strand would have a“predicted” T_(m)=96° C. (the actual melting point might be slightlylower as the above “rule of thumb” is less accurate as melting pointsget over 80° C.). Additionally, the melting difference between DNA/DNAand PNA/DNA becomes even more striking at low salt.

[0178] The melting temperature of DNA/DNA duplexes can be estimated as[4n(G·C)+2m(A·T)]°C. Oligonucleotide capture can be optimized bynarrowing the T_(m) difference between duplexes formed by captureoligonucleotides and the complementary addressable array-specificportions hybridized to one another resulting from differences in G·C/A·Tcontent. Using 5-propynyl-dU in place of thymine increases the T_(m) ofDNA duplexes an average of 1.7° C. per substitution. Froehler, et al.,“Oligonucleotides Containing C-5 Propyne Analogs of 2′-deoxyuridine and2′-deoxycytidine,” Tetrahedron Lett., 33:5307-5310 (1992) and J. Sagi,et al., Tetrahedron Letters, 34:2191 (1993), which are herebyincorporated by reference. The same substitution in the capture schemeshould lower the T_(m) difference between the components of suchduplexes and raise the T_(m) for all of the duplexes. Phosphoramiditederivatives of 5-propynyl-dU having the following structure can beprepared according to the immediately preceding Froehler and Sagireferences, which are hereby incorporated by reference.

[0179] The 5-propynyluracil PNA monomer with Fmoc amino protection canbe made by the following synthesis (where DMF is N,N′-dimethylformamide,DCC is N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, HOBt is 1-hydroxybenzotriazole,and THF is tetrahydrofuran):

[0180] Using the methods described by Egholm, et al., “Peptide NucleicAcids (PNA). Oligonucleotide Analogues with an Achiral PeptideBackbone,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114:1895-1897 (1992) and Egholm, et al.,“Recognition of Guanine and Adenine in DNA by Cytosine and ThymineContaining Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA),” J. Am. Chem. Soc.,114:9677-9678 (1992), which are hereby incorporated by reference. Thesynthesis scheme above describes the preparation of a PNA monomer havinga 5-propynyl-uracil base component. 5-Iodouracil is first alkylated withiodoacetic acid, and, then, the propynl group is coupled to the basemoiety by a Pd/Cu catalyst. The remaining steps in the scheme followfrom the above-referenced methods. These monomers can be incorporatedinto synthetic DNA and PNA strands.

[0181] There are two preferred general approaches for synthesizingarrays. In the first approach, full-length DNA oligonucleotides or PNAoligomers are prepared and are subsequently linked covalently to a solidsupport or membrane. In the second approach, specially designed PNAoligomers or DNA oligonucleotides are constructed by sequentially addingmultimers to the solid support. These multimers are added to specificrows or columns on a solid support or membrane surface. The resulting“checkerboard” pattern generates unique addressable arrays of fulllength PNA or DNA.

[0182] FIGS. 14-16 show different modes of preparing full-length DNAoligonucleotides or PNA oligomers and, subsequently, linking those fulllength molecules to the solid support.

[0183] FIGS. 14A-E depict a method for constructing an array of DNA orPNA oligonucleotides by coupling individual full-length oligonucleotidesto the appropriate locations in a grid. The array of FIG. 14A shows thepattern of oligonucleotides that would be generated if oligonucleotidesare coupled to sixteen 200 μm×200 μm regions of the array surface. Eachindividual 200 μm×200 μm region contains DNA or PNA with a uniquesequence which is coupled to the surface. The individual square regionswill be separated from adjacent squares by 200 μm. The array of FIG. 14Acan thus support 64 (8×8) different oligonucleotides in an 3 mm by 3 mmarea. In order to multiplex the construction of the array, 16 squaresseparated by a distance of 800 μm will be coupled simultaneously totheir specific oligonucleotides. Therefore, the 8×8 grid could beconstructed with only 4 machine steps as shown in FIGS. 14B-14E. Inthese diagrams, the dark squares represent locations that are beingaltered in the current synthesis step, while the hatched squaresrepresent regions which have been synthesized in earlier steps. Thefirst step (FIG. 14B) would immobilize oligonucleotides at locations A1,E1, I1, M1, A5, E5, I5, M5, A9, E9, I9, M9, A13, E13, I13, and M13simultaneously. In the next step (FIG. 14C), the machine would berealigned to start in Column C. After having completed Row 1, the nextstep (FIG. 14D) would start at Row 3. Finally, the last 16oligonucleotides would be immobilized in order to complete the 8×8 grid(FIG. 14E). Thus, the construction of the 8×8 array could be reduced to4 synthesis steps instead of 64 individual spotting reactions. Thismethod would be easily extended and an apparatus capable of spotting 96oligomers simultaneously could be used rapidly to construct largerarrays.

[0184] FIGS. 15A-E represent a perspective dimensional view of the arrayconstruction process described in FIG. 14. In FIGS. 15A-E, theconstruction of a 4×4 (16) array using a machine capable of spottingfour different 24-mers simultaneously is depicted. First, as shown inFIG. 15A, the machine attaches 4 oligomers at locations A1, E1, A5, andE5. Next, as shown in FIG. 15B, the machine is shifted horizontally andattaches 4 oligomers at locations C1, G1, C5, and G5. Next, as shown inFIG. 15C, the machine is repositioned and attaches 4 oligomers atlocations A3, E3, A7, and E7. Finally, as shown in FIG. 15D, the machineattaches the 4 remaining oligomers at positions C3, G3, C7, and G7. Thecompleted array contains sixteen 24-mers as shown in the perspectiveview of FIG. 15E.

[0185] FIGS. 16A-C show views for an application apparatus 2 capable ofsimultaneously coupling 16 different oligonucleotides to differentpositions on an array grid G as shown in FIG. 14. The black squares inthe top view (FIG. 16A) represent sixteen 200 μm×200 μm regions that arespatially separated from each other by 600 μm. The apparatus shown has16 input ports which would allow tubes containing differentoligonucleotides to fill the funnel-shaped chambers above differentlocations on the array. The side views (FIGS. 16B-C, taken along lines16B-16B and 16C-16C, of FIG. 16A, respectively) of the apparatusdemonstrate that funnel shaped chambers, 4 align with the appropriateregion on the array below the apparatus. In addition, two valves 6 and 8(hatched squares in FIGS. 16A-C) control the flow of fluid in the 16independent reaction chambers. One valve 6 controls the entry of fluidsfrom the input port 10, while the other valve 8 would be attached to avacuum line 12 in order to allow loading and clearing of the reactionchamber 4. The apparatus would first be aligned over the appropriate 200μm×200 μm regions of the array. Next, the entire apparatus is firmlypressed against the array, thus forming a closed reaction chamber aboveeach location. The presence of raised 10 μm ridges R around eachlocation on the array ensures the formation of a tight seal which wouldprevent leakage of oligomers to adjacent regions on the array. Next, thevalve 8 to vacuum line 12 would be opened, while the valve 10 from theinput solution port 10 would be closed. This would remove air from thereaction chamber 4 and would create a negative pressure in the chamber.Then, the valve 8 to vacuum line 12 would be closed and the valve 10from the input solution port 10 would be opened. The solution would flowinto the reaction chamber 4 due to negative pressure. This processeliminates the possibility of an air bubble forming within the reactionchamber 4 and ensures even distribution of oligonucleotides across the200 μm×200 μm region. After the oligonucleotides have been coupled tothe activated array surface, the input valve 6 would be closed, thevalve 8 to vacuum line 12 would be opened, and the apparatus would belifted from the array surface in order to remove completely any excesssolution from the reaction chamber. A second apparatus can now berealigned for the synthesis of the next 16 locations on the array.

[0186] FIGS. 15 to 26 show different modes of constructing PNA oligomersor DNA oligonucleotides on a solid support by sequentially adding,respectively, PNA or DNA, multimers to the solid support.

[0187] As an example of assembling arrays with multimers, such assemblycan be achieved with tetramers. Of the 256 (4⁴) possible ways in whichfour bases can be arranged as tetramers, 36 that have unique sequencescan be selected. Each of the chosen tetramers differs from all theothers by at least two bases, and no two dimers are complementary toeach other. Furthermore, tetramers that would result in self-pairing orhairpin formation of the addresses have been eliminated.

[0188] The final tetramers are listed in Table 1 and have been numberedarbitrarily from 1 to 36. This unique set of tetramers are used asdesign modules for the sometimes desired 24-mer capture oligonucleotideaddress sequences. The structures can be assembled by stepwise (one baseat a time) or convergent (tetramer building blocks) syntheticstrategies. Many other sets of tetramers may be designed which followthe above rules. The segment approach is not uniquely limited totetramers, and other units, i.e. dimers, trimers, pentamers, or hexamerscould also be used. TABLE 1 List of tetramer PNA sequences andcomplementary DNA sequences, which differ from each other by at least 2bases. Number Sequence (N-C) Complement (5′-3′) G + C 1. TCTG CAGA 2 2.TGTC GACA 2 3. TCCC GGGA 3 4. TGCG CGCA 3 5. TCGT ACGA 2 6. TTGA TCAA 17. TGAT ATCA 1 8. TTAG CTAA 1 9. CTTG CAAG 2 10. CGTT AACG 2 11. CTCATGAG 2 12. CACG CGTG 3 13. CTGT ACAG 2 14. CAGC GCTG 3 15. CCAT ATGG 216. CGAA TTCG 2 17. GCTT AAGC 2 18. GGTA TACC 2 19. GTCT AGAC 2 20. GACCGGTC 3 21. GAGT ACTC 2 22. GTGC GCAC 3 23. GCAA TTGC 2 24. GGAC GTCC 325. AGTG CACT 2 26. AATC GATT 1 27. ACCT AGGT 2 28. ATCG CGAT 2 29. ACGGCCGT 3 30. AGGA TCCT 2 31. ATAC GTAT 1 32. AAAG CTTT 1 33. CCTA TAGG 234. GATG CATC 2 35. AGCC GGCT 3 36. TACA TGTA 1

[0189] Note that the numbering scheme for tetramers permits abbreviationof each address as a string of six numbers (e.g., second column of Table2 infra). The concept of a 24-mer address designed from a unique set of36 tetramers (Table 1) allows a huge number of possible structures,36⁶=2,176,782,336.

[0190]FIG. 17 shows one of the many possible designs of 36 tetramerswhich differ from each other by at least 2 bases. The checkerboardpattern shows all 256 possible tetramers. A given square represents thefirst two bases on the left followed by the two bases on the top of thecheckerboard. Each tetramer must differ from each other by at least twobases, and should be non-complementary. The tetramers are shown in thewhite boxes, while their complements are listed as (number)′. Thus, thecomplementary sequences GACC (20) and GGTC (20′) are mutually exclusivein this scheme. In addition, tetramers must be non-palindromic, e.g.,TCGA (darker diagonal line boxes), and non-repetitive, e.g., CACA(darker diagonal line boxes from upper left to lower right). All othersequences which differ from the 36 tetramers by only 1 base are shadedin light gray. Four potential tetramers (white box) were not chosen asthey are either all A·T or G·C bases. However, as shown below, the T_(m)values of A·T bases can be raised to almost the level of G·C bases.Thus, all A·T or G·C base tetramers (including the ones in white boxes)could potentially be used in a tetramer design. In addition, thymine canbe replaced by 5-propynyl uridine when used within captureoligonucleotide address sequences as well as in the oligonucleotideprobe addressable array-specific portions. This would increase the T_(m)of an A·T base pair by ˜1.7° C. Thus, T_(m) values of individualtetramers should be approximately 15.1° C. to 15.7° C. T_(m) values forthe full length 24-mers should be 95° C. or higher.

[0191] To illustrate the concept, a subset of six of the 36 tetramersequences were used to construct arrays: 1=TGCG; 2=ATCG; 3=CAGC; 4=GGTA;5=GACC; and 6=ACCT. This unique set of tetramers can be used as designmodules for the required 24-mer addressable array-specific portion and24-mer complementary capture oligonucleotide address sequences. Thisembodiment involves synthesis of five addressable array-specific portion(sequences listed in Table 2). Note that the numbering scheme fortetramers allows abbreviation of each portion (referred to as “Zip #”)as a string of six numbers (referred to as “zip code”). TABLE 2 List ofall 5 DNA/PNA oligonucleotide address sequences. G + Zip # Zip codeSequence (5′→3′ or NH ₂→COOH) C Zip 11 1-4-3-6-6-1TGCG-GGTA-GAGC-ACCT-ACCT-TGCG 15 Zip 12 2-4-4-6-1-1ATCG-GGTA-GGTA-ACCT-TGCG-TGCG 14 Zip 13 3-4-5-6-2-1CAGC-GGTA-GACC-ACCT-ATCG-TGCG 15 Zip 14 4-4-6-6-3-1GGTA-GGTA-ACCT-ACCT-CAGC-TGCG 14 Zip 15 5-4-1-6-4-1GACC-GGTA-TGCG-ACCT-GGTA-TGCG 15

[0192] Each of these oligomers contains a hexaethylene oxide linker armon their 5′ termini [P. Grossman, et al., Nucl. Acids Res., 22:4527-4534(1994), which is hereby incorporated by reference], and ultimateamino-functions suitable for attachment onto the surfaces of glassslides, or alternative materials. Conjugation methods will depend on thefree surface functional groups [Y. Zhang, et al., Nucleic Acids Res.,19:3929-3933 (1991) and Z. Guo, et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 34:5456-5465(1994), which are hereby incorporated by reference].

[0193] Synthetic oligonucleotides (normal and complementary directions,either for capture hybridization or hybridization/ligation) are preparedas either DNA or PNA, with either natural bases or nucleotide analogues.Such analogues pair with perfect complementarity to the natural basesbut increase T_(m) values (e.g., 5-propynyl-uracil).

[0194] Each of the capture oligonucleotides have substantial sequencedifferences to minimize any chances of cross-reactivity—see FIG. 17 andTable 1. Rather than carrying out stepwise synthesis to introduce basesone at a time, protected PNA tetramers can be used as building blocks.These are easy to prepare; the corresponding protected oligonucleotideintermediates require additional protection of the internucleotidephosphate linkages. Construction of the 24-mer at any given addressrequires only six synthetic steps with a likely improvement in overallyield by comparison to stepwise synthesis. This approach eliminatestotally the presence of failure sequences on the support, which couldoccur when monomers are added one-at-a-time to the surface. Hence, incontrast to previous technologies, the possibilities for false signalsare reduced. Moreover, since failure sequences at each address areshorter and lacking at least four bases, there is no risk that thesewill interfere with correct hybridization or lead to incorrecthybridizations. This insight also means that “capping” steps will not benecessary.

[0195] Masking technology will allow several addresses to be built upsimultaneously, as is explained below. As direct consequences of themanufacturing process for the arrays, several further advantages arenoted. Each 24-mer address differs from its nearest 24-mer neighbor bythree tetramers, or at least 6 bases. At low salt, each base mismatch inPNA/DNA hybrids decreases the melting temperature by 8° C. Thus, theT_(m) for the correct PNA/DNA hybridization is at least 48° C. higherthan any incorrect hybridization. Also, neighboring 24-mers areseparated by 12-mers, which do not hybridize with anything and represent“dead” zones in the detection profile. PNA addresses yield rugged,reusable arrays.

[0196] The following description discloses the preparation of 36 uniquePNA tetramers and shows the mechanical/chemical strategy to prepare thearrays. This technique can be used to create a 5×5 array with 25addresses of PNA 24-mers. Alternatively, all 36 tetramers can beincorporated to generate full-size arrays of 1,296 addresses.

[0197] FIGS. 18A-G are schematic diagrams showing addition of PNAtetramers to generate a 5×5 array of unique 24 mer addresses. Themanufacturing device is able to add PNA tetramers in either columns, orin rows, by rotating the multi-chamber device or surface 90°. A circularmanifold allows circular permutation of tetramer addition. Thus, complexunique addresses may be built by using a simple algorithm. In the firsttetramer addition, PNA tetramers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are linked to thesurface in each of the 5 columns, respectively as shown in FIG. 18A.After rotating the chamber 90°, PNA tetramers 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 areadded in adjacent rows, as shown in FIG. 18B. In the third step, asshown in FIG. 18C, tetramers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 1 (note circularpermutation) are added in columns. In the 4th step, as shown in FIG.18D, tetramers 2, 1, 6, 5, and 4 are added in adjacent rows, etc. Thisprocess continues in the manner shown in FIG. 23E-G described infra. Thebottom of the diagram depicts tetramer sequences which generate unique24 mers at each position. The middle row of sequences 1-4-3-6-6-1;2-4-4-6-1-1; 3-4-5-6-2-1; 4-4-6-6-3 and 5-4-1-6-4-1 are shown in fulllength in Table 2. The addition of tetramers in a circularly permutedfashion can be used to generate larger arrays. Tetramer addition neednot be limited to circular patterns and can be added in many othercombinations to form unique addresses which differ from each other by atleast 3 tetramers, which translates to at least 6 bases.

[0198] The present invention has greater specificity than existingmutation detection methods which use allele-specific PCR, differentialhybridization, or sequencing-by-hybridization. These methods rely onhybridization alone to distinguish single-base differences in twootherwise identical oligonucleotides. The signal-to-noise ratios forsuch hybridization are markedly lower than those that can be achievedeven with the two most closely-related capture oligonucleotides in anarray. Since each address is designed by alternating tetramer additionin three rows and three columns, a given address will differ by at leastthree tetramers from its neighbor. Since each tetramer differs fromevery other tetramer by at least 2 bases, a given address will differfrom another address by at least 6 bases. However, in practice, mostaddresses will differ from most other addresses by considerably morebases.

[0199] This concept is illustrated below using the two addresses, Zip 12and Zip 14. These two addresses are the most related among the 25addresses schematically represented in FIGS. 18 and 20 (discussedinfra). These two addresses have in common tetramers on everyalternating position (shown as underlined): Zip 12 (2-4-4-6-1-1) = 24mer 5′-ATCG GGTA GGTA ACCT TGCG TGCG-3′ Zip 14 (4-4-6-6-3-1) = 24 mer5′-GGTA GGTA ACCT ACCT CAGC TGCG-3′

[0200] In addition, they have in common a string of 12 nucleotides, aswell as the last four in common (shown as underlined): Zip 12(2-4-4-6-1-1) = 24 mer 5′-ATCG GGTA GGTA ACCT TGCG TGCG-3′ Zip 14(4-4-6-6-3-1) = 24 mer 5′-GGTA GGTA ACCT ACCT CAGC TGCG-3′

[0201] Either representation has at least 8 differences between theoligonucleotides. Although an oligonucleotide complementary to Zip 12 orZip 14 at the underlined nucleotides could hybridize to both of theseaddresses at a lower temperature (e.g., 37° C.), only the fullycomplementary oligonucleotide would hybridize at elevated temperature(e.g., 70° C.).

[0202] Furthermore, for other capture oligonucleotides, such as Zip 3,the number of shared nucleotides is much lower (shown as underlined):Zip 12 (2-4-4-6-1-1) = 24 mer 5′-ATCG GGTA GGTA ACCT TGCG TGCG-3′ Zip 3(3-6-5-2-2-3) = 24 met 5′-CAGC ACCT GACC ATCG ATCG CAGC-3′

[0203] Therefore, the ability to discriminate Zip 12 from Zip 3 duringhybridization is significantly greater than can be achieved using any ofthe existing methods.

[0204] A multi-chamber device with alternating chambers and walls (each200 μm thick) will be pressed onto the modified glass or silicon surfaceof FIG. 19A prior to delivery of PNA tetramers into either columns orrows. The surface will be etched to produce 10 μm ridges (black lines)to eliminate leaking between chambers. Initially, a flexible spacer(linker) is attached to the array surface. In the first step, as shownin FIG. 19B, PNA tetramers, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are linked to the surfacein each of the five columns, respectively. The multi-chamber device isthen rotated 90°. Tetramers 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 are added in adjacentrows, as shown in FIG. 19C. The process is repeated a total of threetimes to synthesize 24-mer PNA oligomers. Each completed 24-mer within agiven row and column represents a unique PNA sequence, hence achievingthe desired addressable array. Smaller oligonucleotide sequencesrepresent half-size 12-mers which result from 3 rounds of synthesis inthe same direction. Since each 24-mer differs from its neighbor by threetetramers and each tetramer differs from another by at least 2 bases,then each 24-mer differs from the next by at least 6 bases (i.e., 25% ofthe nucleotides differ). Thus, a wrong address would have 6 mismatchesin just 24 bases and, therefore, would not be captured at the wrongaddress, especially under 75-80° C. hybridization conditions. Inaddition, while a particular smaller 12-mer sequence may be found withina 24-mer sequence elsewhere on the grid, an addressable array-specificportion will not hybridize to the 12-mer sequence at temperatures above50° C.

[0205] The starting surfaces will contain free amino groups, anon-cleavable amide linkage will connect the C-terminus of PNA to thesupport, and orthogonal side-chain deprotection must be carried out uponcompletion of segment condensation assembly in a way that PNA chains areretained at their addresses. A simple masking device has been designedthat contains 200 μm spaces and 200 μm barriers, to allow each of 5tetramers to couple to the solid support in distinct rows (FIG. 20A).After addition of the first set of tetramers, the masking device isrotated 90°, and a second set of 5 tetramers are added (FIG. 20B). Thiscan be compared to putting icing on a cake as rows, followed by icing ascolumns. The intersections between the rows and columns will containmore icing, likewise, each intersection will contain an octamer ofunique sequence. Repeating this procedure for a total of 6 cyclesgenerates 25 squares containing unique 24-mers, and the remainingsquares containing common 12-mers (FIGS. 20C and 21A-G). The silicon orglass surface will contain 10 μm ridges to assure a tight seal, andchambers will be filled under vacuum. A circular manifold (FIG. 26) willallow for circular permutation of the six tetramers prior to deliveryinto the five rows (or columns). This design generates unique 24-merswhich always differ from each other by at least 3 tetramers, even thoughsome sequences contain the same 3 tetramers in a contiguous sequence.This masking device is conceptually similar to the masking techniquedisclosed in Southern, et al., Genomics, 13:1008-1017 (1992) and Maskos,et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 21:2267-2268 (1993), which are herebyincorporated by reference, with the exception that the array is builtwith tetramers as opposed to monomers.

[0206] Alternatively, the production of the incomplete 12-mer sequencescan be eliminated if a mask which isolates each location is used. In thefirst step (as shown in FIG. 19D), PNA tetramers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 arelinked to the surface in each of the five columns respectively. Themulti-chamber device is then rotated 90°. Tetramers 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2are added in adjacent rows, as shown in FIG. 19E. The process isrepeated a total of three times to synthesize 24-mer PNA oligomers. Eachcompleted 24-mer within a given row and column represents a unique PNAsequence, hence achieving the desired addressable array. In addition,each 24-mer will be separated from adjacent oligomers by a 200 μm regionfree of PNA oligomers.

[0207] A silicon or glass surface will be photochemically etched toproduce a crosshatched grid of 10 μm raised ridges in a checkerboardpattern (see FIG. 20). Alternate squares (200 μm×200 μm) will beactivated, allowing for the attachment of C₁₈ alkyl spacers and PEGhydrophilic linkers (MW 400-4,000), such that each square is separatedby at least one blank square and two ridges on all sides.

[0208] An example of a universal array using PNA tetramers can be formedby adding 36 different tetramers to either 36 columns or rows at thesame time. The simplest way to add any tetramer to any row is to haveall 36 tetramer solutions attached by tubings to minivalves to acircular manifold which has only one opening. The other side of thecircular manifold can be attached to any of 36 minivalves which go toindividual rows (or columns). So by rotating the manifold and minivalvesto the chambers (rows), one can pump any tetramer into any row, one at atime. This can be either a mechanical device requiring physical rotationor, alternatively, can be accomplished by using electronic microvalvesalong a series of import (tetramers) and export (rows) channels. Thisprocess can occur quite rapidly (5 seconds, including rinsing out themanifold for its next use), so that it would take about 36×5=180 sec. toadd all 36 rows.

[0209] A potentially more rapid way of filling the rows or columns,would be to fill all of them simultaneously. This is illustrated in FIG.20 for a 5×5 array. The silicon or glass surface will contain 10 μmridges to assure a tight seal, and chambers will be filled using thevacuum technique described above. A circular manifold will allow forcircular permutation of the six tetramers prior to delivery into thefive rows (or columns). In FIG. 20, the first step is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.When rotating the multi-chamber device, one could continue to add ineither numerical, or reverse numerical order. In the example, anumerical order of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for the second step is used. In thethird step, the circular permutation (reverse) gives 1, 6, 5, 4, 3.Fourth step (forward) 4, 5, 6, 1, 2. Fifth step (reverse) 4, 3, 2, 1, 6.Sixth step (forward) 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. This can be expanded to 36 tetramersinto 36 rows (or columns). This approach limits the potential variationsin making the address for the array from 36⁶=2,176,782,336 in everyposition to 36⁶=2,176,782,336 in one position, with the other 1,295positions now defined by the first address. This is still a vast excessof the number of different addresses needed. Furthermore, each addresswill still differ from every other address by at least 6 nucleotides.

[0210] Note that all of these arrays can be manufactured in groups, justas several silicon chips can be produced on the same wafer. This isespecially true of the tetramer concept, because this requires addingthe same tetramer in a given row or column. Thus, one row could cover aline of ten arrays, so that a 10×10 grid 100 arrays could bemanufactured at one time.

[0211] Alternatively, the process described with reference to FIG. 20can be carried out with one less cycle to make a 20 mer oligonucleotide.The capture oligonucleotide should be sufficiently long to capture itscomplementary addressable array-specific portion under the selectedhybridization conditions.

[0212] FIGS. 21A-G show a schematic cross-sectional view of thesynthesis of an addressable array (legend). FIG. 21A shows attachment ofa flexible spacer (linker) to surface of array. FIG. 21B shows thesynthesis of the first rows of oligonucleotide tetramers. Only the firstrow, containing tetramer 1, is visible. A multi-chamber device is placedso that additional rows, each containing a different tetramer, arebehind the first row. FIG. 21C shows the synthesis of the first columnsof oligonucleotide tetramers. The multi-chamber device or surface hasbeen rotated 90°. Tetramers 9, 18, 7, and 12 were added in adjacentchambers. FIG. 21D shows the second round synthesis of theoligonucleotide rows. The first row contains tetramer 2. FIG. 21E showsthe second round of synthesis of oligonucleotides. Tetramers 34, 11, 14,and 23 are added in adjacent chambers during the second round. FIG. 21Fshows the third round synthesis of PNA rows. The first row containstetramer 3. FIG. 21G shows the structure of the array after third roundsynthesis of columns, adding tetramers 16, 7, 20, 29. Note that all24-mer oligonucleotides within a given row or column are unique, henceachieving the desired addressable array. Since each 24-mer differs fromits neighbor by three tetramers, and tetramers differ from each other byat least 2 bases, then each 24-mer differs from the next by at least 6bases. Each mismatch significantly lowers Tm, and the presence of 6mismatches in just 24 bases would make cross hybridization unlikely evenat 35° C. Note that the smaller 12-mer sequences are identical with oneanother, but are not at all common with the 24-mer sequences. Eventhough the particular 12-mer sequence may be found within a 24-merelsewhere on the grid, for example 17-1-2-3-28-5, an oligonucleotidewill not hybridize to the 12-mer at temperatures above 50° C.

[0213] FIGS. 22A-C present a design for a masking device 2 capable ofconstructing an array grid G as described in FIGS. 19-21. FIG. 22A is atop view of the arrangement of device 2 and array grid G, while sideviews FIGS. 22B-22C are, respectively, taken along line 22B-22B and line22C-22C of FIG. 22A. The masking device contains 200 μm spaces and 200μm barriers, to allow each of five tetramers to be coupled to the solidsupport in distinct rows. After addition of the first set of tetramers,the masking device is rotated 90°, and a second set of 5 tetramers areadded. This can be compared to putting icing on a cake as rows, followedby icing as columns. The intersections between the rows and columns willcontain more icing, likewise, each intersection will contain an octamerof unique sequence. Repeating this procedure for a total of 6 cyclesgenerates 25 spatially separated squares containing unique 24-mers, andthe remaining squares containing common 12-mers. The silicon or glasssurface will contain 10 μm ridges R to assure a tight seal, and chambers4 will be filled by opening valves 8 to a vacuum line 12 to createnegative pressure in the chamber. The multi-chamber device is pressedonto the membrane or activated solid surface, forming tight seals. Thebarriers may be coated with rubber or another material to avoid crosscontamination from one chamber to the next. One must also make sure themembrane or solid support surface is properly wetted by the solvents.After closing valves 8 to vacuum line 12, one proceeds by activating thesurface, deprotecting, and adding a tetramer to a chamber 4 throughlines 10 by opening valves 6. The chamber is unclamped, the membrane isrotated 90°, and reclamped. A second round of tetramers are added by theabove-described vacuum and tetramer application steps. A valve blockassembly (FIG. 25A-C) will route each tetramer to the appropriate row.Alternatively, a cylindrical manifold (FIGS. 26A-D) will allow circularpermutation of the six tetramers prior to delivery into the five rows(or columns). This design generates unique 24-mers which always differfrom each other by at least 3 tetramers, even though some sequencescontain the same 3 tetramers in a contiguous sequence.

[0214] FIGS. 23A-C represent a perspective view of the arrayconstruction process described in FIG. 19 (FIGS. 19D-19E). In the firststep, as shown in FIG. 23A, PNA tetramers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are linkedto the surface in each of the five columns, respectively. Each of the 5locations in the columns are isolated, and there is a 200 μm gap betweenthem where no oligonucleotides are coupled. The multi-chamber device isthen rotated 90°, as shown in FIG. 23B. Tetramers 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 areadded in adjacent rows. Each of the 5 locations in the rows areisolated, and there is a 200 μm gap between them where nooligonucleotides are coupled. Each completed 24-mer, as shown in FIG.23C, within a given row and column represents a unique PNA sequence.Unlike the design presented in FIGS. 19-22, this array design will notcontain the half-size 12-mers between each complete 24-mer, because amask with isolated locations will be used.

[0215] FIGS. 24A-C present a design for a masking device 2 capable ofconstructing an array grid G as described in FIG. 23. FIG. 24A is a topview of the arrangement of device 2 and array grid G, while side viewsFIG. 24B and 24C are, respectively, taken along line 24B-24B and line24C-24C of FIG. 24A. The masking device contains 200 μm spaces and 200μm barriers, to allow each of five tetramers to be coupled to the solidsupport in distinct locations on the array grid G. After addition of thefirst set of tetramers, the masking device or surface is rotated 90°,and a second set of 5 tetramers are added. Repeating this procedure fora total of 6 cycles generates 25 spatially separated squares containingunique 24-mers, and the remaining squares containing common 12-mers. Thesilicon or glass surface will contain 10 μm ridges R to assure a tightseal, and chambers 4 will be filled by a procedure initiated by using avacuum to create negative pressure in the chamber 2. This vacuum iscreated by opening valves 8 to vacuum line 12. The multi-chamber deviceis pressed onto the membrane or activated solid surface, forming tightseals. The barriers may be coated with rubber or another material toavoid cross contamination from one chamber to the next. One must alsomake sure the membrane or solid support surface is properly wetted bythe solvents. After closing valves 8 to vacuum line 12, one proceeds byactivating the surface, deprotecting, and adding a tetramer to chamber 4through lines 10 by opening valves 6. The chamber is unclamped, themembrane is rotated 90°, and reclamped. A second round of tetramers areadded by the above-described vacuum and tetramer application steps. Avalve block assembly (FIG. 25A-C) will route each tetramer to theappropriate row. Alternatively, a cylindrical manifold (FIG. 26A-D) willallow circular permutation of the six tetramers prior to delivery intothe five rows (or columns). This design generates unique 24-mers whichare separated from each other by a region free of any oligonucleotides.

[0216] FIGS. 25A-C show a valve block assembly 14 which connects sixinput ports 10 to five output ports 16 via a common chamber 18. Each ofthe 6 input ports 10 and 5 output ports 16 contains a valve 6 and avalve 20, respectively, which control the flow of fluids. The 6 inputtubes 10 contain different solutions, and the valve block assembly 14 iscapable of routing any one of the input fluids to one of the 5 outputports 16 at a time. This is accomplished by opening the valve 6 of oneof the input ports 10 and one of the valves 20 of the output ports 16simultaneously and allowing fluid to fill the chamber 18 and exit viathe output port 16 connected to the open valve 20. The valve blockassembly 14 is connected to a source of solvent 22 and a source ofvacuum 12 via valves 24 and 8, respectively, in order to allow cleaningof the central chamber 18 in between fluid transfers. The solvent fillsthe chamber 18, and the vacuum is used to remove all fluid from thechamber. This prepares the chamber 18 for the next fluid transfer stepand prevents cross-contamination of the fluids.

[0217] FIGS. 26A-D depict a cylindrical manifold assembly 114 whichtransfers 6 different tubes of input fluids to 5 different output tubes.The manifold itself contains two separate halves 114A and 114B which arejoined by a common, central spoke 134 around which both halves canindependently rotate. The bottom portion 114B is a cylindrical lock with6 channels 130 drilled through it (see FIG. 26C, which is a bottom viewof FIG. 26B taken along line 26C-26C of FIG. 26B). Each of the 6channels 130 are attached to 6 different input tubes 110. The inputtubes 110 contain valves 106 which connect the input channels 130 toeither reagents, solvent, or a vacuum via lines 138 having valves 136leading to vacuum line 112 having valve 108 and solvent line 122 havingvalve 124. This allows different fluids to enter the channels 130 and132 of the manifold and allows clearing of the channels 130 and 132 ofexcess fluid between fluid transfers. The upper portion of the manifold(see FIG. 26A, which is a top view of FIG. 26B taken along line 26A-26Aof FIG. 26B) is also a cylindrical block with 5 channels 132 drilledthrough it. The 5 channels 132 are each connected to a different outputtube 116. The two halves of manifold 114A and 114B can be independentlyrotated so that different input channels 130 will line up with differentoutput channels 132. This allows the 6 tubes of input fluids to betransferred to the 5 output tubes simultaneously. The bottom half of themanifold 114B can be rotated 60 degrees in order to align each inputport 110 with the next output port 116. In this way, each input port 110can be aligned with any of the output ports 116. The circular manifoldof FIGS. 26A-D differs from the valve block assembly of FIGS. 26A-C inthat the former can simultaneously transfer five of the six input fluidsto the five output ports, because it has 5 channels connecting inputports to the output ports. This concept could be easily expanded todeliver 36 tetramers simultaneously to 36 locations.

[0218] The present invention contains a number of advantages over priorart systems.

[0219] The solid support containing DNA arrays, in accordance with thepresent invention, detects sequences by hybridization of ligated productsequences to specific locations on the array so that the position of thesignal emanating from captured labels identifies the presence of thesequence. For high throughput detection of specific multiplexed LDRproducts, addressable array-specific portions guide each LDR product toa designated address on the solid support. While other DNA chipapproaches try to distinguish closely related sequences by subtledifferences in melting temperatures during solution-to-surfacehybridization, the present invention achieves the required specificityprior to hybridization in solution-based LDR reactions. Thus, thepresent invention allows for the design of arrays of captureoligonucleotides with sequences which are very different from eachother. Each LDR product will have a unique addressable array-specificportion, which is captured selectively by a capture oligonucleotide at aspecific address on the solid support. When the complementary captureoligonucleotides on the solid support are either modified DNA or PNA,LDR products can be captured at higher temperatures. This provides theadded advantages of shorter hybridization times and reduced non-specificbinding. As a result, there is improved signal-to-noise ratios.

[0220] Another advantage of the present invention is that PCR/LDR allowsdetection of closely-clustered mutations, single-base changes, and shortrepeats and deletions. These are not amenable to detection byallele-specific PCR or hybridization.

[0221] In accordance with the present invention, false hybridizationsignals from DNA synthesis errors are avoided. Addresses can be designedso there are very large differences in hybridization T_(m) values toincorrect address. In contrast, the direct hybridization approachesdepend on subtle differences. The present invention also eliminatesproblems of false data interpretation with gel electrophoresis orcapillary electrophoresis resulting from either DNA synthesis errors,band broadening, or false band migration.

[0222] The use of a capture oligonucleotide to detect the presence ofligation products, eliminates the need to detect single-base differencesin oligonucleotides using differential hybridization. Other existingmethods in the prior art relying on allele-specific PCR, differentialhybridization, or sequencing-by-hybridization methods must havehybridization conditions optimized individually for each new sequencebeing analyzed. When attempting to detect multiple mutationssimultaneously, it becomes difficult or impossible to optimizehybridization conditions. In contrast, the present invention is ageneral method for high specificity detection of correct signal,independent of the target sequence, and under uniform hybridizationconditions. The present invention yields a flexible method fordiscriminating between different oligonucleotide sequences withsignificantly greater fidelity than by any methods currently availablewithin the prior art.

[0223] The array of the present invention will be universal, making ituseful for detection of cancer mutations, inherited (germline)mutations, and infectious diseases. Further benefit is obtained frombeing able to reuse the array, lowering the cost per sample.

[0224] The present invention also affords great flexibility in thesynthesis of oligonucleotides and their attachment to solid supports.Oligonucleotides can be synthesized off of the solid support and thenattached to unique surfaces on the support. Segments of multimers ofoligonucleotides, which do not require intermediate backbone protection(e.g., PNA), can be synthesized and linked onto to the solid support.Added benefit is achieved by being able to integrate these syntheticapproaches with design of the capture oligonucleotide addresses. Suchproduction of solid supports is amenable to automated manufacture,obviating the need for human intervention and resulting contaminationconcerns.

[0225] An important advantage of the array of the present invention isthe ability to reuse it with the previously attached captureoligonucleotides. In order to prepare the solid support for such reuse,the captured oligonucleotides must be removed without removing thelinking components connecting the captured oligonucleotides to the solidsupport. A variety of procedures can be used to achieve this objective.For example, the solid support can be treated in distilled water at95-100° C., subjected to 0.01 N NaOH at room temperature, contacted with50% dimethylformamide at 90-95° C., or treated with 50% formamide at90-95° C. Generally, this procedure can be used to remove capturedoligonucleotides in about 5 minutes. These conditions are suitable fordisrupting DNA-DNA hybridizations; DNA-PNA hybridizations require otherdisrupting conditions.

[0226] The present invention is illustrated, but not limited, by thefollowing examples.

EXAMPLES Example 1

[0227] Immobilization of Capture Oligonucleotides to Solid Supports

[0228] The solid support for immobilization was glass, in particularmicroscope slides. The immobilization to glass (e.g., microscopeslides), or other supports such as silicon (e.g., chips), membranes(e.g., nylon membranes), beads (e.g., paramagnetic or agarose beads), orplastics supports (e.g., polyethylene sheets) of captureoligonucleotides in spatially addressable arrays is comprised of 5steps:

[0229] A. Silanization of support

[0230] The silanization reagent was 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane(“APTS”). Alternatively, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. (K. L.Beattie, et al., “Advances in Genosensor Research,” Clin. Chem.,41:700-706 (1995); U. Maskos, et al., “Oligonucleotide Hybridizations onGlass Supports: a Novel Linker for Oligonucleotide Synthesis andHybridization Properties of Oligonucleotides Synthesized in situ,”Nucleic Acids Res., 20:1679-1684 (1992); C. F. Mandenius, et al.,“Coupling of Biomolecules to Silicon Surfaces for Use in Ellipsometryand Other Related Techniques,” Methods Enzymol., pp. 388-394 (1988),which are hereby incorporated by reference) or 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate (M. Glad, et al., “Use of Silane Monomers for MolecularImprinting and Enzyme Entrapment in Polysiloxane-coated Porous Silica,”J. Chromatogr. 347:11-23 (1985); E. Hedborg, et al., “Some Studies ofMolecularly-imprinted Polymer Membranes in Combination with Field-effectDevices,” Sensors and Actuators A 37-38:796-799 (1993); and M. Kempe, etal., “An Approach Towards Surface Imprinting Using the EnzymeRibonuclease A,” J. Mol. Recogn. 8:35-39 (1995), which are herebyincorporated by reference) can be used as an initial silanizationreagent. Prior to silanization, the support was cleansed and the surfaceof the support was rendered hydrophobic. Glass slides (FisherScientific, Extra thick microslides, frosted cat.# 12-550-11) wereincubated in conc. aq. NH₄OH—H₂O₂—H₂O (1:1:5, v/v/v) at 80° C. for 5 minand rinsed in distilled water. The support was then washed withdistilled water, ethanol and acetone as described in the literature (C.F. Mandenius, et al., “Coupling of Biomolecules to Silicon Surfaces forUse in Ellipsometry and Other Related Techniques,” Methods Enzymol., pp.388-394 (1988); Graham, et al., “Gene Probe Assays on a Fibre-OpticEvanescent Wave Biosensor,” Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 7: 487-493(1992); Jönsson, et al., “Adsorption Behavior of Fibronectin on WellCharacterized Silica Surfaces,” J. Colloid Interface Sci., 90:148-163(1982), which are hereby incorporated by reference). The support wassilanized overnight at room temperature in a solution of 2% (v/v)3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) in dry acetone(99.7%) (modified after Z. Guo, et. al., “Direct Fluorescence Analysisof Genetic Polymorphisms by Hybridization with Oligonucleotide Arrays onGlass Supports,” Nucl. Acids Res. 22:5456-65 (1994), which is herebyincorporated by reference). The support was then thoroughly washed indry acetone and dried at 80° C. in a vacuum desiccator.

[0231] B. Derivatization of silanized solid support with functionalgroups (e.g., carboxyl or amino groups)

[0232] When the silanization reagent was APTS, the desired aminofunctionality was introduced directly. Other functional groups can beintroduced, either by choosing an appropriate silanization reagentprimer that already contains the functional group (e.g.,3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate to functionalize the surface witha polymerizable acrylate, (M. Glad, et al., “Use of Silane MonomersImprinting and Enzyme Entrapment in Polysiloxane-coated Porous Silica,”J. Chromatogr. 347:11-23 (1985); E. Hedborg, et al., “Some Studies ofMolecularly-imprinted Polymer Membranes in Combination with Field-effectDevices,” Sensors and Actuators A 37-38:796-799 (1993); and M. Kempe, etal., “An Approach Towards Surface Imprinting Using the EnzymeRibonuclease A,” J. Mol. Recogn. 8:35-39 (1995), which are herebyincorporated by reference), or by reacting the amino-functionalizedsurface with a reagent that contains the desired functional group (e.g.,after localized light-directed photodeprotection of protected aminogroups used in photolithography, (Fodor, et al., “Light-Directed,Spatially Addressable Parallel Chemical Synthesis,” Science, 251:767-773(1991); Fodor, et al., “Multiplexed Biochemical Assays with BiologicalChips,” Nature, 364:555-556 (1993), which are hereby incorporated byreference)).

[0233] C. Activation of functional groups

[0234] The functional group on the solid support was an amino group.Using a prefabricated mask with a 5×5 array of dots that have a diameterof 1 mm, and that are 3.25 mm apart, small amounts (typically 0.2 to 1.0μl) of a solution containing 70 mg/ml disuccinimidyl adipate ester(Hill, et al., “Disuccinimidyl Esters as Bifunctional CrosslinkingReagents for Proteins,” FEBS Lett, 102:282-286 (1979); Horton, et al.,“Covalent Immobilization of Proteins by Techniques which PermitSubsequent Release,” Methods Enzymol., pp. 130-141 (1987), which arehereby incorporated by reference) in anhydrous dimethylformamide(“DMF”); Aldrich, Milwaukee, Wis.), amended with 1-2% triethylamine (toscavenge the acid that is generated), were manually applied to the solidsupport using a Gilson P-10 pipette. After application, the reaction wasallowed to proceed for 30 min at room temperature in a hood, after whichanother loading of disuccinimidyl adipate ester was applied. After atotal reaction time of 1 hour, the support was washed with anhydrous DMFand dried at room temperature in a vacuum desiccator.

[0235] In case the functional group is a carboxyl group, the solidsupport can be reacted with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (“EDC”). Frank, et al., “SimultaneousMultiple Peptide Synthesis Under Continuous Flow Conditions on CellulosePaper Discs as Segmental Solid Support,” Tetrahedron, 44:60:31-6040(1988), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Prior to thisreaction, the surface of the solid support was protonated by a brieftreatment with 0.1 N HCl. Using the above described prefabricated mask,small amounts (0.2 to 1.0 μl) of a fresh solution containing 1 M EDC(Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.), 1 mM of 5′ amino-modified oligonucleotide and20 mM KH₂PO₄, pH=8.3, was manually applied to the solid support. Thereaction was allowed to proceed for 1 hour, after which the support waswashed with distilled water and dried at room temperature in a vacuumdesiccator.

[0236] D. Coupling of amino-functionalized capture oligonucleotides tothe preactivated solid support

[0237] For supports other than EDC-activated solid supports, smallamounts (0.2 to 1.0 μl) of 1 nmol/μl 5′ amino-modified oligonucleotides(i.e. the sequences in Table 2) in 20 mM KH₂PO₄, pH 8.3, were manuallyapplied to the activated support, again using the prefabricated maskdescribed above. The reaction was allowed to proceed for 1 hour at roomtemperature.

[0238] E. Quenching of remaining reactive groups on the solid support

[0239] In order to prevent the reaction products from beingnonspecifically captured on the solid support in a captureprobe-independent way, it may be necessary to quench any remainingreactive groups on the surface of the solid support after capture of thecomplementary oligonucleotide probes. Hereto, the support was incubatedfor 5 min at room temperature in 0.1 N sodium hydroxide. Alternatively,quenching can be performed in 0.2 M lysine, pH=9.0. After quenching, thesupport was washed with 0.1 N sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, toneutralize the surface of the support. After a final wash in distilledwater the support was dried and stored at room temperature in a vacuumdesiccator.

Example 2

[0240] Design of the Assay System

[0241] A semi-automated custom-designed assay system was made fortesting hybridizations and subsequent washings of capturedoligonucleotide probe-capture oligonucleotide hybrids in ahigh-throughput format using the GeneAmp In Situ PCR System 1000™(Perkin Elmer, Applied Biosystems Division, Foster City, Calif.) (G. J.Nuovo, PCR in situ Hybridization, New York: Raven Press (2nd ed. 1994),which is hereby incorporated by reference). A general flowchart of thesystem is shown in FIG. 27. The system consists of a flow-throughhybridization chamber which is connected via a sample loading device anda multiple port system to a battery of liquid reservoirs, and to a wastereservoir. The fluid delivery is controlled by a pump. The pump wasplaced at the end of the assembly line and operated under conditions tomaintain a light vacuum to prevent leakage and contamination of thesystem. Since the hybridization chamber and the liquid reservoirs weredesigned to fit precisely within the GeneAmp In Situ PCR System 1000™,temperatures can be accurately controlled and maintained during thehybridization and washing steps of the assay.

[0242] The individual parts of the system are described in detail in thefollowing section:

[0243] A. Hybridization chamber

[0244] The hybridization chamber is an in situ PCR reagent containmentsystem that has been modified to accommodate flow-throughcharacteristics. The containment system is comprised of a glassmicroscope slide (76×25×1.2±0.02 mm) and a silicone rubber diaphragm,which has been clamped to the slide by a thin stainless steel clip. Theinside oval rim of the metal clip compresses the edges of the silicondisc against the slide with enough force to create a water and gas-tightseal ensuring the containment of hybridization probes and washingliquids. The volume of the containment is approximately 50 μl. The arrayof immobilized capture oligonucleotides is contained in the central areaof the slide (approximately 13 mm×15 mm) which is covered by the silicondisc. The assembly of the different parts is facilitated by an assemblytool which is provided by the manufacturer of the in situ PCR system.Once assembled, an inlet and outlet of the hybridization chamber iscreated by insertion of two 25 G¾ needles with 12″ tubing and multiplesample luer adapter (Becton Dickinson, Rutherford, N.J.). The needlesare inserted in a diagonal manner to assure an up-and-across flowpattern during washing of the probe-target hybrids.

[0245] B. Liquid reservoirs

[0246] Reservoirs containing different washing solutions werecustom-designed to fit into the vertical slots of the thermal block ofthe GeneAmp In Situ PCR System 1000™. Each reservoir consists of twoglass microscope chamber slides (25×75×1 mm) containing prefabricatedsilicone gaskets (Nunc, Inc., Napierville, Ill.), which were glued toeach other using silicone sealant (Dow Corning, Midland, Mich.). Anoutlet was created by insertion of a 21 G ¾″ needle with 12″ long tubingand multiple sample luer adapter (Becton Dickinson, Rutherford, N.J.)through the silicone gasket. A second 21 G ¾″ needle without tubing(Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, N.J.) was inserted through thesilicone gasket to create an air inlet. The liquid reservoirs areleak-free and fit precisely within the slots of the thermal block, wherethey are clamped against the metal fins to assure good heat transfer tothe contained liquid. The volume of each reservoir is approximately 2ml.

[0247] C. Multi port system and sample loading device

[0248] Liquid reservoirs, sample loading device and hybridizationchamber are connected through a multiple port system that enables amanually controlled unidirectional flow of liquids. The system consistsof a series of 3-way nylon stopcocks with luer adapters (KontesScientific Glassware/Instruments, Vineland, N.J.) that are connected toeach other through male-female connections. The female luer adaptersfrom the liquid reservoirs are connected to the multi port female lueradapters via a male-to-male luer adapter coupler (Biorad, Richmond,Calif.). The sample loading device is placed in between the portsconnected to the liquid reservoirs and the port connected to thehybridization chamber. It consists of a 1 ml syringe (Becton Dickinson,Franklin Lakes, N.J.) that is directly connected via a luer adapter tothe multi port system. The flow of liquids can be controlled manually byturning the handles on the stopcocks in the desired direction.

[0249] D. Waste reservoir

[0250] The outlet tubing from the hybridization chamber is connected toa waste reservoir which consists of a 20 ml syringe with luer adapter(Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, N.J.) in which the plunger has beensecured at a fixed position. A connection to the pump is established byinsertion of a 21 G ¾″ needle with 12″ long tubing and multiple sampleluer adapter through the rubber gasket of the plunger. When the pump isactivated, a slight vacuum is built up in the syringe which drives theflow of liquids from the liquid reservoirs through the hybridizationchamber to the waste reservoir.

[0251] E. Pump

[0252] A peristaltic pump P-1 (Pharmacia, Piscataway, N.J.) was used tocontrol the flow of liquids through the system. It was placed at the endof the assembly line in order to maintain a slight vacuum within thesystem. The inlet tubing of the pump was connected to the outlet tubingof the waste reservoir via a 3-way nylon stopcock. By this constructionrelease of the vacuum within the waste reservoir is established enablingits draining by gravity.

Example 3

[0253] Hybridization and Washing Conditions

[0254] In order to assess the capture specificity of different captureoligonucleotides, hybridization experiments were carried out using twocapture oligonucelotide probes that bad 3 out of 6 tetramers (i.e., 12out of 24 nucleotides) in common. This example represents the mostdifficult case to distinguish between different captureoligonucleotides. In general, other capture oligonucleotides would beselected that would have fewer tetramers in common to separate differentamplification products on an addressable array.

[0255] Typically, 10 pmol of each of the oligonucleotides comp 12 andcomp 14 (see Table 3) were 5′ end labeled in a volume of 20 μlcontaining 10 units of T4 polynucleotide kinase (New England Biolabs,Beverly, Mass.), 2.22 MBq (60 μCi) [γ-³²P] ATP, 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8, 10mM MgCl₂, 1 mM EDTA, and 10 mM dithiothreitol, according to a slightlymodified standard procedure described in the literature. Unincorporatedradioactive nucleotides were removed by filtration over a columncontaining superfine DNA grade Sephadex G-25 (Pharmacia, Piscataway,N.J.). The Sephadex was preswollen overnight at 4° C. in 10 mM ammoniumacetate. The labeled oligonucleotide probes were dried in vacuum anddissolved in hybridization solution (0.5 M Na₂HPO₄ [pH 7.2], 1%crystalline grade BSA, 1 mM EDTA, 7% SDS). The specific activity of thelabeled oligonucleotide probes comp 12 and comp 14 was 2.86×10⁶ cpm/pmoland 2.43×10⁶ cpm/pmol, respectively. TABLE 3 Oligonucleotides used(5′ to 3′) 12 Aminolink-spacer 18-ATC GGG TAG GTA ACC TTG CGT GCG 14Aminolink-spacer 18-GGT AGG TAA CCT ACC TCA GCT GCG comp 12                    CGC ACG CAA GGT TAC CTA CCC GAT comp 14                    CGC AGC TGA GGT AGG TTA CCT ACC

[0256] Four hundred picomoles of amino-linked capture oligonucleotides12 and 14 (see Table 3) were deposited and reacted both on carboxylderivatized and amino derivatized glass microscope slides as describedin the previous section. The capture oligonucleotides were immobilizedin a 2×2 matrix array, in such a way that hybridization with thecomplementary oligonucleotide probe comp 12 would result in a positivesignal for the top-left and bottom-right diagonal positions, whilehybridization with the complementary oligonucleotide probe comp 14 wouldresult in a positive signal for the bottom-left and top-right diagonalpositions.

[0257] Radiolabeled oligonucleotide probes comp 12 and comp 14 (seeTable 3) were dissolved in hybridization solution at a concentration of2.5 pmol/100 μl and 4.1 pmol/100 μl, respectively. The hybridizationsolutions were amended with 5 μl of a 2% bromophenol blue marker tofacilitate the visual monitoring of the probes during their transportthrough the assay system. One hundred microliters of radiolabeled probewas then injected and pumped into the hybridization chamber.Hybridizations were performed for 15 min at 70° C.

[0258] After hybridization, the hybridization chamber was sequentiallywashed with 2×2 ml of low stringency wash buffer (2×SSC buffer contains300 mM sodium chloride and 30 mM sodium citrate), 0.1% sodiumdodecylsulfate (“SDS”)) and 2×2 ml of high stringency wash buffer(0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS) at 70° C. (1×SSC buffer contains 150 mM sodiumchloride and 15 mM sodium citrate).

Example 4

[0259] Detection of Captured Oligonucleotide Probes

[0260] After washing the capture oligonucleotide-oligonucleotide probehybrids, silicon discs, needles and metal cover clips were removed fromthe glass microscope slides, and remaining liquid was absorbed usingKimwipes (Kimberly-Clark, Roswell, Ga.). The captured oligonucleotideprobes were visualized and quantified using a phosphorimager (MolecularDynamics, Sunnyvale, Calif.). After 21 hours of exposure of the glassmicroscope slide to a phosphorimager screen, data were collected for thedifferent solid supports that were tested. The images that were obtainedare shown in FIG. 28. Quantitative data are shown in Tables 4A and 4B.

[0261] Under the conditions that were used, the signals andcross-reactivity data that were obtained for the NH₂-functionalizedslides were better than those obtained for the COOH— functionalizedslides. TABLE 4A Quantification of captured oligonucleotide probe 12Functional Oligonucleotide probe at Oligonucleotide probe at Averagegroup capture oligonucleotide 12 capture oligonucleotide 14 cross onslide Probe (pic)* (amol) (pic)* (amol) reactivity —COOH 12 105,333 9.00.37 —COOH 12 55,957 4.8 —COOH 12 36,534 3.1 —COOH 12 23,707 2.0 —NH₂ 12353,569 30 0.015 —NH₂ 12 10,421,092 889 —NH₂ 12 64,999 5.5 —NH₂ 1295,414 8.1

[0262] TABLE 4B Quantification of captured oligonucleotide probe 14Oligonucleotide Oligonucleotide probe at capture probe at captureFunctional oligonucleotide oligonucleotide Average group 12 14 cross onslide Probe (pic)* (amol) (pic)* (amol) reactivity —COOH 14  35,610 4.00.19  —COOH 14  43,362 4.9 —COOH 14 5,587 0.6 —COOH 14 9,379 1.1 —NH₂ 14245,973 28 0.049 —NH₂ 14 115,529 13 —NH₂ 14 9,775 1.1 —NH₂ 14 8,065 0.9

Example 5

[0263] Optimizing Immobilization Parameters of Capture Oligonucleotides

[0264] Polymer was deposited on slides using a literature procedure.Barnard, et al., “A Fibre-optic Sensor With Discrete Sensing Sites,”Nature 353:338-40 (1991); Bonk, et al., “Fabrication of Patterned SensorArrays With Aryl Azides on a Polymer-coated Imaging Optical FiberBundle,” Anal. Chem. 66:3319-20 (1994); Smith, et al.,“Poly-N-acrylylpyrrolidone—A New Resin in Peptide Chemistry,” Int. J.Peptide Protein Res. 13:109-12 (1979), which are hereby incorporated byreference.

[0265] Four hundred picomoles of amino-linked capture oligonucleotides12 and 14 (see Table 3) were deposited and reacted in a 2×2 pattern to aglass microscope slide that contained 4 identical photo-depositedpolymer spots. The oligonucleotides were spotted in such a way thathybridization with the complementary oligonucleotide probe comp 12 wouldresult in a positive signal for the top and bottom positions, whilehybridization with the complementary oligonucleotide probe comp 14 wouldresult in a positive signal for the left and right positions.

[0266] Radiolabeled oligonucleotide probe comp 12 (see Table 3) wasdissolved in hybridization solution at a concentration of 2.4 pmol/100μl. Bromophenol blue marker (5 μl of a 2% solution) was added to thehybridization solution to facilitate the monitoring of the probe duringits transport through the system.

[0267] One hundred microliters of radiolabeled probe comp 12 was pumpedinto the hybridization chamber. Hybridization was performed for 15 minat 70° C. After hybridization, the hybridization chamber wassequentially washed with 3×1 ml of low stringency wash buffer (2×SSC,0.1% SDS) and 3×1 ml of high stringency wash buffer (0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS)at 70° C.

[0268] After 24 hours of exposure of the glass microscope slide to aphosphorimager screen, data were collected for all the different slidesthat were tested. The images that were obtained are shown in FIG. 29.Quantitative data are shown in Table 5. TABLE 5 Quantification ofcaptured oligonucleotide probes Percentage probe 12 probe 12 Crosslinkercrosslinker (pic)* (amol) EGDMA 2 1,055,100  80 1,390,499 106 HDDMA 2  633,208  48  286,9371 218 EGDMA 4 4,449,001 338 2,778,414 211

[0269] The immobilization chemistry allows for the use of tailor madespecialty polymer matrices that provide the appropriate physicalproperties that are required for efficient capture of nucleic acidamplification products. The specificity of the immobilized captureoligonucleotides has been relatively good compared to current strategiesin which single mismatches, deletions, and insertions are distinguishedby differential hybridization (K. L. Beattie, et. al. “Advances inGenosensor Research,” Clin. Chem. 41:700-06 (1995), which is herebyincorporated by reference). Finally, it has been demonstrated that theassay system of the present invention enables the universalidentification of nucleic acid oligomers.

Example 6

[0270] Capture of Addressable Oligonucleotide Probes to Solid Support

[0271] Polymer-coated slides were tested for their capture capacity ofaddressable oligonucleotide probes following different procedures forimmobilization of capture oligonucleotides. After being silanized with3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate, monomers were then polymerizedon the slides. In one case, a polymer layer having COOH functionalgroups was formed with a polyethylene glycol-containing crosslinker. Inthe other case, a polyethylene glycol-methacrylate monomer waspolymerized onto the slide to form OH functional groups. The slides withthe COOH functional groups were activated using the EDC-activationprocedure of Example 1.

[0272] The slide with OH functional groups was activated overnight atroom temperature by incubation in a tightly closed 50 ml plasticdisposable tube (Corning Inc., Corning, N.Y.) containing 0.2 M1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole (“CDI”) (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.) in“low water” acetone (J. T. Baker, Phillipsburg, N.J.). The slide wasthen washed with “low water” acetone, and dried in vacuum at roomtemperature.

[0273] Amino-linked capture oligonucleotide 14 was manually spotted onpremarked locations on both sides (4 dots per slide). The reactions wereperformed in a hood, and the amount of oligonucleotide that was spottedwas 2×0.2 μl (0.8 nmol/μl). The total reaction time was 1 hr. The slideswere then quenched for 15 min by the application of few drops ofpropylamine on each of the premarked dots. After quenching, the slideswere incubated for 5 min in 0.1 N sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2,washed in double distilled H₂O, and dried in vacuum.

[0274] The complementary capture oligonucleotides on the slides werehybridized with radioactively labeled oligonucleotide probe comp 14(Table 3). One hundred microliters radiolabeled oligonucleotide probecomp 14 (2.8 pmol; 6,440,000 cpm/pmol) were pumped into thehybridization chamber. Hybridization was performed for 15 min at 70° C.in 0.5 M Na₂HPO₄ [pH 7.2], 1% crystalline grade BSA, 1 mM EDTA, 7% SDS.After hybridization, the hybridization chamber was sequentially washedwith 2×2 ml of low stringency wash buffer (2×SSC, 0.1% SDS) and 2×2 mlof high stringency wash buffer (0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS) at 70° C. (1 SSCbuffer contains 150 mM sodium chloride and 15 mM sodium citrate).

[0275] After 30 min of exposure of the glass microscope slide to aphosphorimager screen, data were collected for both slides. After 30minutes of exposure of the glass microscope slides to a phosphorimagerscreen data were collected. See Table 6 and FIG. 30. TABLE 6Quantification of capture oligonucleotide probe 14 on OH-functionalizedslides Oligonucleotide Functional probe at capture group oligonucleotide14 on glass slide Probe (pic)* (fmol) —OH 14 1,864,879 10.9 —OH 141,769,403 10.3

[0276] In this test, better results were obtained with the slide coatedwith the polymer containing OH functional groups than with the slidecoated with the polymer containing COOH functional groups.

[0277] With previously prepared (poly HEMA)-containing polymers thatwere polymerized with 20% amine-containing monomers and crosslinked with4% EGDMA or HDDMA, it was possible to capture about 275 amol ofradioactively labelled ligated product sequence (which could only bevisualized after 23 hours of exposure to a phosphorimager screen (Table5)). Using the polyethylene-methacrylate polymer formulations, it waspossible to capture about 10.6 fmoles of ligated product sequence. Thesignal could be detected after 30 min of exposure.

Example 7

[0278] Detection of Captured Oligonucleotides Using a Membrane Support

[0279] In order to assess the capture specificity of different captureoligonucleotides using a membrane support, hybridization experimentswere carried out using the capture oligonucleotide probes 12 and 14(Table 3).

[0280] Strips of OH-functionalized nylon membrane (Millipore, Bedford,Mass.) were soaked overnight in a 0.2 M solution of carbonyldiimidazolein “low water” acetone. The strips were washed in acetone and dried invacuo. Two volumes of 0.2 μl (1 mM) capture oligonucleotides 12 and 14in 20 mM K₂HPO₄, pH 8.3, (Table 3) were loaded on the membrane using aspecial blotting device (Immunetics, Cambridge, Mass.). Complementaryoligonucleotide probes were radioactively labeled as described inExample 3. The oligonucleotide probes were dried in vacuo and taken upin 200 μl hybridization buffer (0.5 M Na₂HPO₄[pH 7.2], 1% crystallinegrade BSA, 1 mM EDTA, 7% SDS). Membranes were prehybridized in 800 μlhybridization buffer for 15 min at 60° C. in 1.5 ml Eppendorf tubes in aHybaid hybridization oven. The tubes were filled with 500 μl of inertcarnauba wax (Strahl & Pitsch, Inc., New York, N.Y.) to reduce the totalvolume of the hybridization compartment. After prehybridization, 200 μlof radiolabeled probe was added. The membranes were hybridized for 15min at 60° C. After hybridization, the membranes were washed at 60° C.,twice for 15 min with 1 ml of low stringency wash buffer (2×SSC, 0.1%SDS), and twice for 15 min with 1 ml of high stringency wash buffer(0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS). The captured oligonucleotide probes were quantifiedusing a phosphorimager (Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, Calif.). After 45min of exposure to a phosphorimager screen, data were collected. Theresults are shown in Table 7, where the activities of captureoligonucleotides 12 and 14 are 112 pic/amol and 210 pic/amol,respectively. TABLE 7 Quantification of captured oligonucleotides onmembranes Functional Oligonucleotide probe at Oligonucleotide probe atAverage group on capture oligonucleotide 12 capture oligonucleotide 14cross membrane Probe (pic)* (fmol) (pic)* (fmol) reactivity —OH 1213,388,487 119.5 337,235 3.01 0.025 —OH 12 13,299,298 118.7 —OH 14179,345 0.85 1,989,876 9.48 0.071 —OH 14 3,063,387 14.59

[0281] Hybridization temperatures and hybridization times were furtherexplored in a series of similar experiments. The data shown in Table 8(where the activities of capture oligonucleotides 12 and 14 are 251pic/amol and 268 pic/amol, respectively) represent the results obtainedwith the following conditions: 15 min prehybridization at 65° C. in 800μl hybridization buffer; 15 min hybridization at 65° C. in 1 mlhybridization buffer; 2× washings for 5 min at 65° C. with 1 ml of lowstringency wash buffer; and 2× washings for 5 min at 65° C. with 1 ml ofhigh stringency wash buffer. TABLE 8 Quantification of capturedoligonucleotides on membranes Functional Oligonucleotide probe atOligonucleotide probe at Average group on capture oligonucleotide 12capture oligonucleotide 14 cross membrane Probe (pic)* (fmol) (pic)*(fmol) reactivity —OH 12 41,023,467 163.4 541,483 2.16 0.015 —OH 1231,868,432 127.0 —OH 14 294,426 1.10 19,673,325 73.41 0.016 —OH 1418,302,187 68.29

[0282] The data shown in Table 9 (where the activities of captureoligonucleotides 12 and 14 are 487 pic/amol and 506 pic/amol,respectively) represent the results obtained with the followingconditions: 15 min prehybridization at 70° C. in 150 μl hybridizationbuffer; 15 min hybridization at 70° C. in 200 μl hybridization buffer;2× washings for 5 min at 70° C. in 800 μl of low stringency wash buffer;and 2× washings for 5 min at 70° C. in 800 μl of high stringency washbuffer. TABLE 9 Quantification of captured oligonucleotides on membranesFunctional Oligonucleotide probe at Oligonucleotide probe at Averagegroup on capture oligonucleotide 12 capture oligonucleotide 14 crossmembrane Probe (pic)* (fmol) (pic)* (fmol) reactivity —OH 12 34,648,38571.15 1,158,832 2.38 0.027 —OH 12 52,243,549 107.28 —OH 14 1,441,6912.85 56,762,990 112.18 0.028 —OH 14 45,769,158 90.45

[0283] The data shown in Table 10 represent the results obtained withthe following conditions: 15 min prehybridization at 70° C. in 150 μlhybridization buffer; 5 min hybridization at 70° C. in 200 μlhybridization buffer; 2× washings for 5 min at 70° C. with 800 μl of lowstringency wash buffer; and 2× washings for 5 min at 70° C. with 800 μlof high stringency wash buffer. TABLE 10 Quantification of capturedoligonucleotides on membranes. Functional Oligonucleotide probe atOligonucleotide probe at Average group on capture oligonucleotide 12capture oligonucleotide 14 cross membrane Probe (pic)* (fmol) (pic)*(fmol) reactivity —OH 12 26,286,188 53.98 389,480 0.80 0.013 —OH 1234,879,649 71.62 —OH 14 539,486 1.07 45,197,674 89.32 0.011 —OH 1454,409,947 107.53

[0284] The data shown in Table 11 represent the results obtained withthe following conditions: 5 min prehybridization at 70° C. in 150 μlhybridization buffer; 1 min hybridization at 70° C. in 200 μlhybridization buffer; 2× washings for 2 min at 70° C. with 800 μl of lowstringency wash buffer; and 2× washings for 5 min at 70° C. with 800 μlof high stringency wash buffer. TABLE 11 Quantification of capturedoligonucleotides on membranes Functional Oligonucleotide probe atOligonucleotide probe at Average group on capture oligonucleotide 12capture oligonucleotide 14 cross membrane Probe (pic)* (fmol) (pic)*(fmol) reactivity —OH 12 5,032,835 10.33 56,777 0.12 0.012 —OH 124,569,483 9.38 —OH 14 540,166 1.07 41,988,355 82.98 0.017 —OH 1420,357,554 40.23

[0285] These data demonstrate that hybridization of the captureoligonucleotide probes to their complementary sequences was specific. Incomparison with the previous experiments performed with glass slides,significantly greater amounts (i.e., fmol quantities compared to amolquantities) of oligonucleotide probes were reproducibly captured on themembrane supports. For these two very closely-related captureoligonucleotide probes, average cross-reactivity values of about 1%could be obtained. However, for other pairs of capture oligonucleotidesin the array, these values would be significantly better. In general,such values cannot be achieved by using existing methods that are knownin the art, i.e., by allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization(“ASO”) or by differential hybridization methods, such as sequencing byhybridization (“SBII”).

Example 8

[0286] Cleaning Glass Surfaces

[0287] Glass slides (Fisher Scientific, Extra thick microslides, frostedcat.# 12-550-11) were incubated in conc. aq. NH₄OH—H₂O₂—H₂O (1:1:5,v/v/v) at 80° C. for 5 min and rinsed in distilled water. A secondincubation was performed in conc. aq HCl—H₂O₂—H₂O (1:1:5,v/v/v) at 80°C. for 5 min. See U. Jönsson, et al., “Absorption Behavior ofFibronectin on Well Characterized Silica Surfaces,” J. Colloid InterfaceSci. 90:148-163 (1982), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Theslides were rinsed thoroughly in distilled water, methanol, and acetone,and were air-dried at room temperature.

Example 9

[0288] Silanization with 3-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane

[0289] Cleaned slides, prepared according to Example 8, were incubatedfor 24-48 h at room temperature in a solution consisting of 2.6 ml of3-methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc.Milwaukee, Wis. cat.# 23,579-2), 0.26 ml of triethylamine, and 130 ml oftoluene. See E. Hedborg, et. al., Sensors Actuators A, 37-38:796-799(1993), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The slides wererinsed thoroughly in acetone, methanol, distilled water, methanol again,and acetone again, and were air-dried at room temperature. See FIG. 31.

Example 10

[0290] Silanization with Dichlorodimethylsilane

[0291] Cleaned slides, prepared according to Example 8, were incubatedfor 15 min at room temperature in a solution containing 12 ml ofdichlorodimethylsilane and 120 ml of toluene. The slides were rinsedthoroughly in acetone, methanol, distilled water, methanol again, andacetone again and were air-dried.

Example 11

[0292] Polymerization of Poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate withMethacrylate-derivatized Glass

[0293] 2.2 g of poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate (Aldrich ChemicalCompany, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis. cat.# 40,953-7) (average M˜306 g/mol) and50 mg of 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) in 3.5 ml of acetonitrilewere cooled on ice and purged with a stream of argon for 3 min. The nextsteps were performed in a glovebox under argon atmosphere. 5-15 drops ofthe polymerization mixture were placed on a methacrylate-derivatizedglass slide, prepared according to Examples 8 and 9. Themethacrylate-derivatized glass slide and the polymerization mixture werecovered by a second glass slide which had been silanized according toExample 10, and the two glass slides were pressed together and fixedwith clips. The slides were subsequently transferred to a vacuumdesiccator. The polymerization was thermolytically initiated at 55° C.,or photolytically at 366 nm. See FIG. 32.

Example 12

[0294] Polymerization of Acrylic Acid and Trimethylolpropane Ethoxylate(14/3 EO/OH) Triacrylate with Methacrylate-Derivatized Glass

[0295] 0.5 g of acrylic acid (Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc. Milwaukee,Wis. cat.# 14,723-0), 1.83 g of trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3EO/OH) triacrylate (Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis. cat.#23,579-2) and 50 mg of 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) in 3.5 ml ofacetonitrile were cooled on ice and purged with a stream of argon for 3min. The next steps were performed in a glovebox as described in Example11. The slides were subsequently transferred to a vacuum desiccator andpolymerized as described in Example 11. See FIG. 33.

Example 13

[0296] Polymerization of Poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate andTrimethylolpropane Ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) Triacrylate withMethacrylate-derivatized Glass

[0297] 0.55 g of poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate (Aldrich ChemicalCompany, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis. cat.# 40,953,7), 1.64 g oftrimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH triacrylate (Aldrich ChemicalCompany, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis. cat.# 23,579-2), and 50 mg of2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) in 3.5 ml of acetonitrile were cooledon ice and purged with a stream of argon for 3 min. The next steps wereperformed in a glove-box as described in Example 11. The slides weresubsequently transferred to a vacuum desiccator and polymerized asdescribed in Example 11. See FIG. 34.

[0298] Although the invention has been described in detail for thepurpose of illustration, it is understood that such details are solelyfor that purpose and variations can be made therein by those skilled inthe art without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionwhich is defined by the following claims.

1 16 1 10 DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 1 cacacacaca 10 2 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Descriptionof Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 2 tgcgggtaca gcacctacct tgcg 24 324 DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 3 atcgggtagg taaccttgcg tgcg 24 4 24 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 4 cagcggtagaccacctatcg tgcg 24 5 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Description ofArtificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 5 ggtaggtaac ctacctcagc tgcg 24 6 24DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 6 gaccggtatg cgacctggta tgcg 24 7 24 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 7 atcgggtaggtaaccttgcg tgcg 24 8 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Description ofArtificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 8 ggtaggtaac ctacctcagc tgcg 24 9 24DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 9 atcgggtagg taaccttgcg tgcg 24 10 24 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 10ggtaggtaac ctacctcagc tgcg 24 11 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Descriptionof Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 11 atcgggtagg taaccttgcg tgcg 2412 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 12 cagcacctga ccatcgatcg cagc 24 13 24 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 13atcgggtagg taaccttgcg tgcg 24 14 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Descriptionof Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 14 ggtaggtaac ctacctcagc tgcg 2415 24 DNA Artificial Sequence Description of Artificial SequenceOligonucleotide 15 cgcacgcaag gttacctacc cgat 24 16 24 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequence Oligonucleotide 16cgcagctgag gtaggttacc tacc 24

What is claimed:
 1. A method for identifying one or more of a pluralityof sequences differing by one or more single-base changes, insertions,deletions, or translocations in a plurality of target nucleotidesequences comprising: providing a sample potentially containing one ormore target nucleotide sequences with a plurality of sequencedifferences; providing a plurality of oligonucleotide probe sets, eachset characterized by (a) a first oligonucleotide probe, having atarget-specific portion and an addressable array-specific portion, and(b) a second oligonucleotide probe, having a target-specific portion anda detectable reporter label, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in aparticular set are suitable for ligation together when hybridizedadjacent to one another on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence,but have a mismatch which interferes with such ligation when hybridizedto any other nucleotide sequence present in the sample; providing aligase, blending the sample, the plurality of oligonucleotide probesets, and the ligase to form a mixture; subjecting the mixture to one ormore ligase detection reaction cycles comprising a denaturationtreatment, wherein any hybridized oligonuclecotides are separated fromthe target nucleotide sequences, and a hybridization treatment, whereinthe oligonucleotide probe sets hybridize at adjacent positions in abase-specific manner to their respective target nucleotide sequences, ifpresent in the sample, and ligate to one another to form a ligatedproduct sequence containing (a) the addressable array-specific portion,(b) the target-specific portions connected together, and (c) thedetectable reporter label, and, wherein the oligonucleotide probe setsmay hybridize to nucleotide sequences in the sample other than theirrespective target nucleotide sequences but do not ligate together due toa presence of one or more mismatches and individually separate duringthe denaturation treatment; providing a solid support with differentcapture oligonucleotides immobilized at particular sites, wherein thecapture oligonucleotides have nucleotide sequences complementary to theaddressable array-specific portions; contacting the mixture, after saidsubjecting, with the solid support under conditions effective tohybridize the addressable array-specific portions to the captureoligonucleotides in a base-specific manner, thereby capturing theaddressable array-specific portions on the solid support at the sitewith the complementary capture oligonucleotide; and detecting thereporter labels of ligated product sequences captured to the solidsupport at particular sites, thereby indicating the presence of one ormore target nucleotide sequences in the sample.
 2. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable forligation together at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to oneanother on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotideprobes in the set are hybridized to any other nucleotide sequencepresent in the sample, have a mismatch at a base at the ligationjunction which interferes with such ligation.
 3. A method according toclaim 2, wherein the mismatch is at the 3′ base at the ligationjunction.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the oligonucleotideprobes in a set are suitable for ligation together at a ligationjunction when hybridized adjacent to one another on a correspondingtarget nucleotide sequence due to perfect complementarity at theligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotide probes in the set arehybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in the sample, thereis a mismatch at a base adjacent to a base at the ligation junctionwhich interferes with such ligation.
 5. A method according to claim 4,wherein the mismatch is at the base adjacent to the 3′ base at theligation junction.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the samplepotentially contains unknown amounts of one or more of a plurality oftarget sequences with a plurality of sequence differences, said methodfurther comprising: quantifying, after said detecting, the amount of thetarget nucleotide sequences in the sample by comparing the amount ofcaptured ligated product sequences generated from the sample with acalibration curve of captured ligated product sequences generated fromsamples with known amounts of the target nucleotide sequence.
 7. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the sample potentially containsunknown amounts of one or more of a plurality of target nucleotidesequences with a plurality of sequence differences, said method furthercomprising: providing a known amount of one or more marker targetnucleotide sequences; providing a plurality of marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets, each set characterized by (a) a firstoligonucleotide probe, having a target-specific portion complementary tothe marker target nucleotide sequence and an addressable array-specificportion complementary to capture oligonucleotides on the solid support,and (b) a second oligonucleotide probe, having a target-specific portioncomplementary to the marker target nucleotide sequence and a detectablereporter label, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a particularmarker-specific oligonucleotide set are suitable for ligation togetherwhen hybridized adjacent to one another on a corresponding marker targetnucleotide sequence, but, when hybridized to any other nucleotidesequence present in the sample or added marker sequences, there is amismatch which interferes with such ligation, wherein said blendingcomprises blending the sample, the marker target nucleotide sequences,the plurality of oligonucleotide probe sets, the plurality ofmarker-specific oligonucleotide probe sets, and the ligase to form amixture; detecting the reporter labels of the ligated marker-specificoligonucleotide sets captured on the solid support at particular sites,thereby indicating the presence of one or more marker target nucleotidesequences in the sample; and quantifying the amount of target nucleotidesequences in the sample by comparing the amount of captured ligatedproduct generated from the known amount of marker target nucleotidesequences with the amount of captured other ligated product.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 7, wherein the one or more marker target nucleotidesequences differ from the target nucleotide sequences in the sample atone or more single nucleotide positions.
 9. A method according to claim8, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets and the marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets form a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing multiple allele differences at a singlenucleotide position, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probe sets of eachgroup, the first oligonucleotide probes have a common target-specificportion, and the second oligonucleotide probes have a differingtarget-specific portion which hybridize to a given allele or a markernucleotide sequence in a base-specific manner.
 10. A method according toclaim 8, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets and the marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets form a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing multiple allele differences at a singlenucleotide position, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probe sets of eachgroup, the second oligonucleotide probes have a common target-specificportion and the first oligonucleotide probe have differingtarget-specific portions, which hybridize to a given allele or a markernucleotide sequence in a base-specific manner.
 11. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the sample potentially contains unknown amounts of twoor more of a plurality of target nucleotide sequences with a pluralityof sequence differences, said method further comprising: quantifying,after said detecting, the relative amount of each of the plurality oftarget nucleotide sequences in the sample by comparing the relativeamount of captured ligated product sequences generated by each of theplurality of target sequences within the sample, thereby providing aquantitative measure of the relative level of two or more targetnucleotide sequences in the sample.
 12. A method according to claim 1,wherein multiple allele differences at two or more nearby or adjacentnucleotide positions in a single target nucleotide sequence or multipleallele differences at two or more nearby or adjacent nucleotidepositions in multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished witholigonucleotide probe sets having oligonucleotide probes withtarget-specific portions which overlap.
 13. A method according to claim1, wherein the target-specific portions of the oligonucleotide probesets have substantially the same melting temperature so that theyhybridize to target nucleotide sequences under similar hybridizationconditions.
 14. A method according to claim 1, wherein multiple alleledifferences at one or more nucleotide position in a single targetnucleotide sequence or multiple allele differences at one or morepositions in multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished, theoligonucleotide probe sets forming a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing multiple allele differences at a singlenucleotide position, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probes of eachgroup, the second oligonucleotide probes have a common target-specificportion and the first oligonucleotide probes have differingtarget-specific portions which hybridize to a given allele in abase-specific manner, wherein, in said detecting, the labels of ligatedproduct sequences of each group, captured on the solid support atdifferent sites, are detected, thereby indicating a presence, in thesample of one or more allele at one or more nucleotide position in oneor more target nucleotide sequences.
 15. A method according to claim 14,wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a given set are suitable forligation together at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to oneanother on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction, but, when hybridized to anyother nucleotide sequence present in the sample, the firstoligonucleotide probe has a mismatch at a base at the ligation junctionwhich interferes with such ligation.
 16. A method according to claim 14,wherein multiple allele differences at two or more nearby or adjacentnucleotide positions in a single target nucleotide sequence or multipleallele differences at two or more nearby or adjacent nucleotidepositions in multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished witholigonucleotide probe groups having oligonucleotide probes withtarget-specific portions which overlap.
 17. A method according to claim16, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable forligation together at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to oneanother on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotideprobes in the set are hybridized to any other nucleotide sequencepresent in the sample, there is a mismatch at a base at the ligationjunction which interferes with such ligation.
 18. A method according toclaim 1, wherein multiple allele differences consisting of insertions,deletions, microsatellite repeats, translocations, or other DNArearrangements at one or more nearby positions in a single targetnucleotide sequence or multiple allele differences consisting ofinsertions, deletions, microsatellite repeats, translocations, or otherDNA rearrangements at one or more nearby positions in multiple targetnucleotide sequences are distinguished, the oligonucleotide probe setsforming a plurality of oligonucleotide probe groups, each groupcomprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe sets designed fordistinguishing multiple allele differences selected from the groupconsisting of insertions, deletions, microsatellite repeats,translocations, and other DNA rearrangements at one or more nearbypositions, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probe sets of each group, thesecond oligonucleotide probes have a common target-specific portion andthe first oligonucleotide probes have differing target-specific portionswhich hybridize to a given allele in a base-specific manner, wherein, insaid detecting, the labels of ligated product sequences of each group,captured on the solid support at different sites, are detected, therebyindicating a presence, in the sample, of one or more allele differencesselected from the group consisting of insertions, deletions,microsatellite repeats, translocations, and other DNA rearrangements inone or more target nucleotide sequences.
 19. A method according to claim18, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets are designed fordistinguishing multiple allele differences selected from the groupconsisting of insertions, deletions, and microsatellite repeats, at oneor more nearby positions, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probe sets ofeach group, the second oligonucleotide probes have a commontarget-specific portion, and the first oligonucleotide probes havediffering target-specific portions which contain repetitive sequences ofdifferent lengths to hybridize to a given allele in a base-specificmanner.
 20. A method according to claim 1, wherein a low abundance ofmultiple allele differences at multiple nearby or adjacent positions ina single target nucleotide sequence, in the presence of an excess ofnormal sequence, or a low abundance of multiple allele differences, atmultiple nearby positions in multiple target nucleotide sequences, inthe presence of an excess of normal sequence, are distinguished, theoligonucleotide probe sets forming a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing multiple allele differences at a singlenucleotide position, wherein one or more sets within a group sharecommon second oligonucleotide probes and the first oligonucleotideprobes have differing target-specific portions which hybridize to agiven allele excluding the normal allele in a base-specific manner,wherein, in said detecting, the labels of ligated product sequences ofeach group captured on the solid support at different sites, aredetected, thereby indicating a presence, in the sample, of one or morelow abundance alleles at one or more nucleotide positions in one or moretarget nucleotide sequences.
 21. A method according to claim 20, whereinthe oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable for ligation togetherat a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one another on acorresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfect complementarityat the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotide probes in theset are hybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in thesample, the first oligonucleotide probes have a mismatch at a base atthe ligation junction which interferes with such ligation.
 22. A methodaccording to claim 20, wherein a low abundance of multiple alleledifferences at multiple nearby or adjacent positions in a single targetnucleotide sequence, in the presence of an excess of normal sequence, ora low abundance of multiple allele differences at multiple nearbypositions in multiple target nucleotide sequences, in the presence of anexcess of normal sequence, are quantified in a sample, said methodfurther comprising: providing a known amount of one or more markertarget nucleotide sequences; providing a plurality of marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets, each set characterized by (a) a firstoligonucleotide probe having a target-specific portion complementary tothe marker target nucleotide sequence and an addressable array-specificportion, and (b) a second oligonucleotide probe, having atarget-specific portion complementary to the marker target nucleotidesequence and a detectable reporter label, wherein the oligonucleotideprobes in a particular marker-specific oligonucleotide set are suitablefor ligation together when hybridized adjacent to one another on acorresponding marker target nucleotide sequence, but, when hybridized toany other nucleotide sequence present in the sample or added markersequences, have a mismatch which interferes with such ligation;providing a plurality of oligonucleotide probe groups, each groupcomprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe sets or marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets designed for distinguishing multiple alleledifferences at a single nucleotide position, including marker nucleotidesequences, wherein one or more sets within a group share a common secondoligonucleotide probe and the first oligonucleotide probes havedifferent target-specific probe portions which hybridize to a givenallele or a marker nucleotide sequence excluding the normal allele, in abase-specific manner, wherein said blending comprises blending thesample, the marker target nucleotide sequences, the plurality ofoligonucleotide probe sets, the plurality of marker-specificoligonucleotide probe sets, and the ligase to form a mixture; detectingthe reporter labels of the ligated marker-specific oligonucleotide setscaptured on the solid support at particular sites, thereby indicatingthe presence of one or more marker target nucleotide sequences in thesample; and quantifying the amount of target nucleotide sequences in thesample by comparing the amount of captured ligated products generatedfrom the known amount of marker target nucleotide sequences with theamount of other captured ligated product generated from the lowabundance unknown sample.
 23. A method according to claim 22, whereinthe oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable for ligation togetherat a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one another on acorresponding target nucleotide sequence under selected conditions dueto perfect complementarity at the ligation junction, but, when theoligonucleotide probes in the set are hybridized to any other nucleotidesequence present in the sample, the first oligonucleotide probes have amismatch at a base at the ligation junction which interferes with suchligation.
 24. A method according to claim 1, wherein multiple alleledifferences at one or more nucleotide position in a single targetnucleotide sequence or multiple allele differences at one or morepositions in multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished, theoligonucleotide sets forming a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing multiple allele differences at a singlenucleotide position, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probes of eachgroup, the first oligonucleotide probes have a common target-specificportion and the second oligonucleotide probes have differingtarget-specific portions which hybridize to a given allele in abase-specific manner, wherein, in said detecting, different reporterlabels of ligated product sequences of each group captured on the solidsupport at particular sites are detected, thereby indicating a presence,in the sample, of one or more allele at one or more nucleotide positionsin one or more target nucleotide sequences.
 25. A method according toclaim 24, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable forligation together at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to oneanother on a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotideprobes in the set are hybridized to any other nucleotide sequencepresent in the sample, the second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatchat a base at the ligation junction which interferes with such ligation.26. A method according to claim 24, wherein multiple allele differencesat two or more nearby or adjacent nucleotide positions in a singletarget nucleotide sequence, or multiple allele differences at two ormore nearby or adjacent nucleotide positions in multiple targetnucleotide sequences are distinguished, the oligonucleotide probe groupscontaining oligonucleotide probes with target-specific portions whichoverlap.
 27. A method according to claim 26, wherein the oligonucleotideprobes in a set are suitable for ligation together at a ligationjunction when hybridized adjacent to one another on a correspondingtarget nucleotide sequence due to perfect complementarity at theligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotide probes in the set arehybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in the sample, thesecond oligonucleotide probe has a mismatch at a base at the ligationjunction which interferes with such ligation.
 28. A method according toclaim 1, wherein multiple allele differences at one or more nucleotideposition in a single target nucleotide sequence or multiple alleledifferences at one or more positions in multiple target nucleotidesequences are distinguished, the oligonucleotide sets forming aplurality of probe groups, each group comprised of one or moreoligonucleotide probe sets designed for distinguishing multiple alleledifferences at a single nucleotide position, wherein, in theoligonucleotide probes of different groups, the second oligonucleotideprobes have a common target-specific portion or the firstoligonucleotide probes have a common target-specific portion, wherein,in said detecting, the one of a plurality of labeled ligated productsequences of each group captured on the solid support at particularsites are detected, thereby indicating a presence of one or more alleleat one or more nucleotide positions in one or more target nucleotidesequences in the sample.
 29. A method according to claim 28, wherein theoligonucleotide probes in a given set are suitable for ligation togetherat ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one another on acorresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfect complementarityat the ligation junction but, when the oligonucleotides in the set arehybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in the sample, thefirst or second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatch at a base at theligation junction which interferes with such ligation.
 30. A methodaccording to claim 28, wherein multiple allele differences at two ormore nearby or adjacent nucleotide positions in a target nucleotidesequence or multiple allele differences at two or more nearby oradjacent nucleotide positions in multiple target nucleotide sequence aredistinguished, the oligonucleotide probe groups containing probes withtarget-specific portions which overlap.
 31. A method according to claim30, wherein oligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable for ligationtogether at a ligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one anotheron a corresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfectcomplementarity at the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotidesin the set are hybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present inthe sample, the first or second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatchat a base at the ligation junction which interferes with such ligation.32. A method according to claim 29, wherein all possible single-basemutations for a single codon in a single target nucleotide sequence, allpossible single-base mutations for multiple codons in a single targetnucleotide sequence, and all possible single-base mutations for multiplecodons in multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished, theoligonucleotide sets forming a plurality of oligonucleotide probegroups, each group comprised of one or more oligonucleotide probe setsdesigned for distinguishing all possible single-base mutations for asingle codon, wherein, in the oligonucleotide probes of each group, thesecond oligonucleotide probes differ only in their 5′ bases at theirligation junction and contain different reporter labels, the firstoligonucleotide probes differ only in their 3′ bases at their ligationjunction and contain different addressable array-specific portions, orthe first oligonucleotide probes differ only in their 3′ bases adjacentto the base at the ligation junction and contain different addressablearray-specific portions.
 33. A method according to claim 29, wherein theoligonucleotide probes in a set are suitable for ligation together at aligation junction when hybridized adjacent to one another on acorresponding target nucleotide sequence due to perfect complementarityat the ligation junction, but, when the oligonucleotides in the set arehybridized to any other nucleotide sequence present in the sample, thefirst oligonucleotide probes have a mismatch at the 3′ base at theligation junction or the 3′ base adjacent the base at the ligationjunction or the second oligonucleotide probes have a mismatch at the 5′base at the ligation junction which interferes with such ligation.
 34. Amethod according to claim 33, wherein all possible single-base mutationsfor a single codon in a single target nucleotide sequence, or allpossible single-base mutations for two or more nearby or adjacent codonsin multiple target nucleotide sequences are distinguished, theoligonucleotide probe groups containing oligonucleotide probes withtarget-specific portions which overlap.
 35. A method according to claim1, wherein the denaturation treatment is at a temperature of about80°-105° C.
 36. A method according to claim 1, wherein each cycle,comprising a denaturation treatment and a hybridization treatment, isfrom about 30 seconds to about five minutes long.
 37. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein said subjecting is repeated for 2 to 50 cycles. 38.A method according to claim 1, wherein total time for said subjecting is1 to 250 minutes.
 39. A method according to claim 1, wherein the ligaseis selected from the group consisting of Thermus aquaticus ligase,Thermus thermophilus ligase, E. coli ligase, T4 ligase, and Pyrococcusligase.
 40. A method according to claim 1, wherein the detectablereporter label is selected from the group consisting of chromophores,fluorescent moieties, enzymes, antigens, heavy metals, magnetic probes,dyes, phosphorescent groups, radioactive materials, chemiluminescentmoieties, and electrochemical detecting moieties.
 41. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein the target-specific portions of the oligonucleotideprobes each have a hybridization temperature of 20-85° C.
 42. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the target-specific portions of theoligonucleotide probes are 20 to 28 nucleotides long.
 43. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the mixture further includes a carrierDNA.
 44. A method according to claim 1, wherein said subjecting achievesa rate of formation of mismatched ligated product sequences which isless than 0.005 of the rate of formation of matched ligated productsequences.
 45. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:amplifying the target nucleotide sequences in the sample prior to saidblending.
 46. A method according to claim 45, wherein said amplifying iscarried out by subjecting the sample to a polymerase-based amplifyingprocedure.
 47. A method according to claim 45, wherein saidpolymerase-based amplifying procedure is carried out with DNApolymerase.
 48. A method according to claim 45, wherein saidpolymerase-based amplifying procedure is carried out with reversetranscriptase.
 49. A method according to claim 45, wherein saidpolymerase-based amplifying procedure is carried out with RNApolymerase.
 50. A method according to claim 45, wherein said amplifyingis carried out by subjecting the target nucleotide sequences in thesample to a ligase chain reaction process.
 51. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets are selected from thegroup consisting of ribonucleotides, deoxyribonucleotides, modifiedribonucleotides, modified deoxyribonucleotides, peptide nucleic acids,modified peptide nucleic acids, modified phosphate-sugar backboneoligonucleotides, nucleotide analogues, and mixtures thereof.
 52. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein said method is used to detectinfectious diseases caused by bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungalinfectious agents.
 53. A method according to claim 52, wherein theinfectious disease is caused by a bacteria selected from the groupconsisting of Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Klebsiella,Pseudomonas, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare, Yersinia, Francisella, Pasteurella,Brucella, Clostridia, Bordetella pertussis, Bacteroides, Staphylococcusaureus, Streptococcus pneumonia, B-Hemolytic strep., Corynebacteria,Legionella, Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma, Chlamydia, Neisseria gonorrhea,Neisseria meningitides, Hemophilus influenza, Enterococcus faecalis,Proteus vulgaris, Proteus mirabilis, Helicobacter pylori, Treponemapalladium, Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia recurrentis, Rickettsialpathogens, Nocardia, and Acitnomycetes.
 54. A method according to claim52, wherein the infectious disease is caused by a fungal infectiousagent selected from the group consisting of Cryptococcus neoformans,Blastomyces dermatitidis, Histoplasma capsulatum, Coccidioides immitis,Paracoccicioides brasiliensis, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigautus,Phycomycetes (Rhizopus), Sporothrix schenckii, Chromomycosis, andMaduromycosis.
 55. A method according to claim 52, wherein theinfectious disease is caused by a viral infectious agent selected fromthe group consisting of human immunodeficiency virus, human T-celllymphocytotrophic viurs, hepatitis viruses (e.g., Hepatitis B Virus andHepatitis C Virus), Epstein-Barr Virus, cytomegalovirus, humanpapillomaviruses, orthomyxo viruses, paramyxo viruses, adenoviruses,corona viruses, rhabdo viruses, polio viruses, toga viruses, bunyaviruses, arena viruses, rubella viruses, and reo viruses.
 56. A methodaccording to claim 52, wherein the infectious disease is caused by aparasitic infectious agent selected from the group consisting ofPlasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malaria, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodiumovale, Onchoverva volvulus, Leishmania, Trypanosoma spp., Schistosomaspp., Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidum, Giardia spp., Trichimonasspp., Balatidium coli, Wuchereria bancrofti, Toxoplasma spp., Enterobiusvermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Dracunculusmedinesis, trematodes, Diphyllobothrium latum, Taenia spp., Pneumocystiscarinii, and Necator americanis.
 57. A method according to claim 1,wherein said method is used to detect genetic diseases.
 58. A methodaccording to claim 57, wherein the genetic disease is selected from thegroup consisting of 21 hydroxylase deficiency, cystic fibrosis, FragileX Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Down Syndrome,heart disease, single gene diseases, HLA typing, phenylketonuria, sicklecell anemia, Tay-Sachs Syndrome, thalassemia, Klinefelter's Syndrome,Huntington's Disease, autoimmune diseases, lipidosis, obesity defects,hemophilia, inborn errors in metabolism, and diabetes.
 59. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said method is used to detect cancerinvolving oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, or genes involved in DNAamplification, replication, recombination, or repair.
 60. A methodaccording to claim 59, wherein the cancer is associated with a geneselected from the group consisting of BRCA1 gene, p53 gene, Familialpolyposis coli, Her2/Neu amplification, Bcr/Ab1, K-ras gene, humanpapillomavirus Types 16 and 18, leukemia, colon cancer, breast cancer,lung cancer, prostate cancer, brain tumors, central nervous systemtumors, bladder tumors, melanomas, liver cancer, osteosarcoma and otherbone cancers, testicular and ovarian carcinomas, ENT tumors, and loss ofheterozygosity.
 61. A method according to claim 1, wherein said methodis used for environmental monitoring, forensics, and food and feedindustry monitoring.
 62. A method according to claim 1, wherein thesolid support is made from a material selected from the group consistingof plastic, ceramic, metal, resin, gel, glass, silicon, and compositesthereof.
 63. A method according to claim 1, wherein the solid support isin a form selected from the group consisting of slides, discs,membranes, films, and composites thereof.
 64. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the solid support has an array of positions with thecapture oligonucleotides attached to positions in the array.
 65. Amethod according to claim 64, wherein the solid support has wells,raised regions, or etched trenches.
 66. A method according to claim 64,wherein the solid support is in the form of a microtiter plate.
 67. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the solid support is functionalizedwith olefin, amino, hydroxyl, silanol, aldehyde, keto, halo, acylhalide, or carboxyl groups.
 68. A method according to claim 67, whereinthe solid support is functionalized with an amino group by reaction withan amine compound selected from the group consisting of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyldimethylethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane,N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyl dimethoxysilane,N-(2-aminoethyl-3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane, aminophenyltrimethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyldimethyl methoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane, aminoethylaminomethylphenethyl trimethoxysilane, andmixtures thereof.
 69. A method according to claim 67, wherein the solidsupport is functionalized with an olefin-containing silane.
 70. A methodaccording to claim 69, wherein the olefin-containing silane is selectedfrom the group consisting of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate,N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]-N′-(4-vinylbenzyl)ethylenediamine,triethoxyvinylsilane, triethylvinylsilane, vinyltrichlorosilane,vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinyltrimethylsilane, and mixtures thereof.
 71. Amethod according to claim 69 wherein the silanized support ispolymerized with an olefin containing monomer.
 72. A method according toclaim 71, wherein the olefin-containing monomer contains a functionalgroup.
 73. A method according to claim 72, wherein the theolefin-containing monomer is selected from the group consisting ofacrylic acid, methacrylic acid, vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid,itaconic acid, allyl amine, allyletbylamine, 4-aminostyrene,2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride,chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethylstyrene,vinylbenzyl alcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate,poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 74. A methodaccording to claim 71, wherein the support is polymerized with a monomerselected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid,vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid, allyl amine,allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloylchloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene, dischlorostyrene,4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzyl alcohol, allylalcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate, and mixtures thereof, together with a monomer selectedfrom the group consisting of acrylic acid, acrylamide, methacrylic acid,vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid, allyl amine,allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloylchloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene,4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzyl alcohol, allylalcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate,ethyl methacrylate, styrene, 1-vinylimidazole, 2-vinylpyridine,4-vinylpyridine, divinylbenzene, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,N,N′-methylenediacrylamide, N,N′-phenylenediacrylamide,3,5-bis(acryloylamido) benzoic acid, pentaerythritol triacrylate,trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, pentaerytrithol tetraacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (7/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane propoxylate (1 PO/OH) triacrylate, trimethylolpropanepropoxylate (2 PO/OH) triacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 75. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said detecting comprises: scanning thesolid support at the particular sites and identifying if ligation of theoligonucleotide probe sets occurred and correlating identified ligationto a presence or absence of the target nucleotide sequences.
 76. Amethod according to claim 75, wherein said scanning is carried out byscanning electron microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy,charge-coupled device, scanning tunneling electron microscopy, infraredmicroscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrical conductance, andfluorescent or phosphor imaging.
 77. A method according to claim 75,wherein said correlating is carried out with a computer.
 78. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said contacting the mixture with the solidsupport is at a temperature of 45-90° C. and for a time period of up to60 minutes.
 79. A method according to claim 1, wherein some of theplurality of capture oligonucleotides have identical nucleotidesequences and different labels are used for some different targetnucleotide sequence.
 80. A method according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of capture oligonucleotides each have different nucleotidesequences.
 81. A method according to claim 80, wherein each captureoligonucleotide differs from its adjacent capture oligonucleotide on thearray by at least 25% of the nucleotides.
 82. A method according toclaim 80, wherein each capture oligonucleotide has adjacent captureoligonucleotides separated from adjacent capture oligonucleotides bybarrier oligonucleotides to which ligated oligonucleotide probe setswill not hybridize during said contacting.
 83. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets hybridize to the targetnucleotide sequences at temperatures which are less than that at whichthe capture oligonucleotides hybridize to the addressable array-specificportion of oligonucleotide probe sets.
 84. A method according to claim 1further comprising: treating the mixture chemically or enzymatically,after said subjecting the mixture to a series of ligase detectionreaction cycles, to destroy unligated oligonucleotide probes.
 85. Amethod according to claim 84, wherein said treating is carried out withan exonuclease.
 86. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:removing oligonucleotides bound to the capture oligonucleotides topermit reuse of the solid support with immobilized captureoligonucleotides.
 87. A method according to claim 1, wherein the solidsupport includes different capture oligonucleotides immobilized atdifferent sites with different capture oligonucleotides beingcomplementary to different addressable array-specific portions, wherebydifferent oligonucleotide probe sets are captured and detected atdifferent sites on the solid support.
 88. A method according to claim 1,wherein the solid support includes identical capture oligonucleotidesimmobilized on the solid support with the capture oligonucleotides beingcomplementary to all the addressable array-specific portions and thelabels attached to the oligonucleotide probe sets being different,whereby the different oligonucleotide probe sets are detected anddistinguished by the different labels.
 89. A method of forming arrays ofoligonucleotides on a solid support comprising: providing a solidsupport having an array of positions each suitable for attachment of anoligonucleotide; attaching to the solid support a surface or linker,suitable for coupling an oligonucleotide to the solid support, at eachof the array positions; and forming the array of a plurality of captureoligonucleotides on the solid support by a series of cycles ofactivating selected array positions for attachment of multimernucleotides and attaching multimer nucleotides at the activated arraypositions.
 90. A method according to claim 89, wherein said formingcomprises: applying a multimer nucleotide along parallel rows of thesolid support; turning the support 90 degrees; attaching a multimernucleotide along parallel rows of the solid support to formoligonucleotides at row intersections having 2 sets of multimernucleotides; and repeating said applying, turning, and attaching untilthe oligonucleotides at the row intersections have 6 sets of multimernucleotides.
 91. A method according to claim 89, wherein the solidsupport is made from a material selected from the group consisting ofplastic, ceramic, metal, resin, gel, glass, silicon, and compositesthereof.
 92. A method according to claim 89, wherein the solid supportis in a form selected from the group consisting of slides, discs,membranes, films, and composites thereof.
 93. A method according toclaim 89, wherein the solid support has an array of positions with theplurality of capture oligonucleotides having different nucleotidesequences.
 94. A method according to claim 93, wherein the solid supporthas wells, raised regions, or etched trenches.
 95. A method according toclaim 94, wherein the solid support is in the form of a microtiterplate.
 96. A method according to claim 89, wherein said attaching alinker comprises: silanizing a surface of the solid support.
 97. Amethod according to claim 89, wherein the solid support isfunctionalized with olefin, amino, hydroxyl, silanol, aldehyde, keto,halo, acyl halide, or carboxyl groups.
 98. A method according to claim97, wherein the solid support is functionalized with an amino group byreaction with an amine compound selected from the group consisting of3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane, 3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane,3-aminopropyl dimethylethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane,N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyl dimethoxysilane,N-(2-aminoethyl-3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane, aminophenyltrimethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyldimethyl methoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane, aminoethylaminomethylphenethyl trimethoxysilane, andmixtures thereof.
 99. A method according to claim 97, wherein the solidsupport is functionalized with an olefin-containing silane.
 100. Amethod according to claim 99, wherein the olefin-containing silane isselected from the group consisting of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate,N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]-N′-(4-vinylbenzyl)ethylenediamine,triethoxyvinylsilane, triethylvinylsilane, vinyltrichlorosilane,vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinyltrimethylsilane, and mixtures thereof. 101.A method according to claim 99, wherein the silanized support ispolymerized with an olefin containing monomer.
 102. A method accordingto claim 101, wherein the olefin-containing monomer contains afunctional group.
 103. A method according to claim 102, wherein theolefin-containing monomer is selected from the group consisting ofacrylic acid, methacrylic acid, vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid,itaconic acid, allyl amine, allylethylamine, 4-aminosiryrene,2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride,chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethylstyrene,vinylbenzyl alcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate,poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 104. A methodaccording to claim 101, wherein the support is polymerized with amonomer selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, acrylamide,methacrylic acid, vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid,allyl amine, allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate,acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene,dischlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzylalcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethyleneglycol) methacrylate, and mixtures thereof, together with a monomerselected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid,vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid, allyl amine,allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloylchloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene,4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzyl alcohol, allylalcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate,ethyl methacrylate, styrene, 1-vinylimidazole, 2-vinylpyridine,4-vinylpyridine, divinylbenzene, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,N,N′-methylenediacrylamide, N,N′-phenylenediacrylamide,3,5-bis(acryloylamido) benzoic acid, pentaerythritol triacrylate,trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, pentaerytrithol tetraacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (7/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane propoxylate (1 PO/OH) triacrylate, trimethylolpropanepropoxylate (2 PO/OH) triacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 105. A methodaccording to claim 99, wherein said forming comprises:photolithographically masking the solid support; photochemicallydeprotecting the linker or outermost nucleotides attached to the solidsupport at unmasked array positions; and adding nucleotides with aphotoactivatable protecting group at photochemically deprotected arraypositions.
 106. A method according to claim 105, wherein thephotoactivable protecting group is selected from the group consisting ofnitroveratryloxycarbonyl, o-nitrobenzyloxycarbonyl,fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl, dimethyl-dimethoxybenzyloxycarbonyl,oxymethyleneanthraquinone, and mixtures thereof.
 107. A method accordingto claim 105, wherein the protecting group protects the nucleotides attheir 3′ or 5′ ends.
 108. A method according to claim 105 furthercomprising: washing the solid support after said photochemicallydeprotecting and said adding.
 109. A method according to claim 89,wherein the surface or linker is non-hydrolyzable.
 110. A methodaccording to claim 89, wherein the solid support has an array ofpositions with the plurality of capture oligonucleotides having the samenucleotide sequences.
 111. A method according to claim 93, wherein eachcapture oligonucleotide differs from its adjacent captureoligonucleotide on the array by at least 25% of the nucleotides.
 112. Amethod according to claim 93, wherein each capture oligonucleotide isseparated from adjacent capture oligonucleotides by barrieroligonucleotides which are shorter than the capture oligonucleotides.113. A method according to claim 89, wherein said method is carried outwith a device having a plurality of chambers having separate valves onseparate connections to a source of the multimer nucleotides and to asource of vacuum, said method further comprising: orienting the deviceand the solid support for application of the multimer nucleotides to thesolid support; opening the valve to the source of vacuum to seal thechambers of the device against the solid support; closing the valve tothe source of vacuum; opening the valve to the source of multimernucleotides to supply the multimer nucleotides to the chambers for theattaching of multimer nucleotides at the activated array positions; andclosing the valve to the source of multimer nucleotides after theattaching.
 114. A method according to claim 113, wherein the device hasthe chambers separately along rows and columns of the array.
 115. Amethod according to claim 113, wherein the device has the chambers alongrows of the array.
 116. A method according to claim 115, wherein thechambers are configured to deliver multimer nucleotides a precise columnpositions.
 117. A method according to claim 115, wherein said formingcomprises: applying a multimer nucleotide along parallel rows of thesolid support; turning the support 90 degrees; attaching a multimernucleotide along parallel rows of the solid support to formoligonucleotides at row intersections having 2 sets of multimernucleotides by said opening the valve to the source of vacuum, saidclosing the valve to the source of vacuum, said opening the valve to thesource of multimer nucleotides, and said closing the valve to the sourceof multimer nucleotides; and repeating said applying, turning, andattaching until the oligonucleotides are formed at the rowintersections.
 118. A method according to claim 113, wherein said devicecomprises a valve block assembly with plural input ports leading tosources of multimer nucleotides and plural output ports leading tochambers.
 119. A method according to claim 118, wherein the valve blockassembly is cylindrical and has 2 adjacent rotatable portions which canbe positioned relative to one another to connect selectively the inputand output ports.
 120. An array of oligonucleotides on a solid supportcomprising: a solid support having an array of positions each suitablefor attachment of an oligonucleotide; a linker or support suitable forcoupling an oligonucleotide to the solid support attached to the solidsupport at each of the array positions; and an array of oligonucleotideson the solid support with at least some of the array positions beingoccupied by oligonucleotides having greater than sixteen nucleotides.121. An array according to claim 120, wherein different oligonucleotidesare attached at different array positions on the solid support to detectdifferent nucleic acids.
 122. An array according to claim 120, whereinthe solid support is made from a material selected from the groupconsisting of plastic, ceramic, metal, resin, gel, glass, silicon, andcomposites thereof.
 123. An array according to claim 120, wherein thesolid support is in a form selected from the group consisting of slides,discs, membranes, films, and composites thereof.
 124. An array accordingto claim 120, wherein the solid support has an array of positions witholigonucleotides attached to the array of positions.
 125. An arrayaccording to claim 124, wherein the solid support has wells, raisedregions, or etched trenches.
 126. An array according to claim 125,wherein the solid support is in a microtiter plate.
 127. An arrayaccording to claim 120, wherein the linker comprises a silane on asurface of the solid support.
 128. An array according to claim 120,wherein the solid support is functionalized with olefin, amino,hydroxyl, silanol, aldehyde, keto, halo, acyl halide, or carboxylgroups.
 129. An array according to claim 128, wherein the solid supportis functionalized with an amino group by reaction with an amine compoundselected from the group consisting of 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane,3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl dimethylethoxysilane,3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl-3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane,aminophenyl trimethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyldimethyl methoxysilane,4-aminobutyl triethoxysilane, aminoethylaminomethylphenethyltrimethoxysilane, and mixtures thereof.
 130. An array according to claim128, wherein the solid support is functionalized with anolefin-containing silane.
 131. An array according to claim 130, whereinthe olefin-containing silane is selected from the group consisting of3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate,N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]-N′-(4-vinylbenzyl)ethylenediamine,triethoxyvinylsilane, triethylvinylsilane, vinyltrichlorosilane,vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinyltrinethylsilane, and mixtures thereof. 132.An array according to claim 130, wherein the silanized support ispolymerized with an olefin containing monomer.
 133. An array accordingto claim 132, wherein the olefin-containing monomer contains afunctional group.
 134. An array according to claim 133, wherein theolefin-containing monomer is selected from the group consisting ofacrylic acid, methacrylic acid, vinlylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid,itaconic acid, allyl amine, allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene,2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride,chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethylstyrene,vinylbenzyl alcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate,poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 135. An arrayaccording to claim 132, wherein the support is polymerized with amonomer selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, acrylamide,methacrylic acid, vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid,allyl amine, allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate,acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene,dichlorostyrene, 4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzylalcohol, allyl alcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethyleneglycol) methacrylate, and mixtures thereof, together with a monomerselected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid,vinylacetic acid, 4-vinylbenzoic acid, itaconic acid, allyl amine,allylethylamine, 4-aminostyrene, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate, acryloylchloride, methacryloyl chloride, chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene,4-hydroxystyrene, hydroxymethyl styrene, vinylbenzyl alcohol, allylalcohol, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol)methacrylate, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate,ethyl methacrylate, styrene, 1-vinylimidazole, 2-vinylpyridine,4-vinylpyridine, divinylbenzene, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,N,N′-methylenediacrylamide, N,N′-phenylenediacrylamide,3,5-bis(acryloylamido) benzoic acid, pentaerylhritol triacrylate,trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, pentaerytrithol tetraacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (7/3 EO/OH) triacrylate,trimethylolpropane propoxylate (1 PO/OH) triacrylate, trimethylolpropanepropoxylate (2 PO/OH) triacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
 136. An arrayaccording to claim 120, wherein the linker or support isnon-hydrolyzable.
 137. An array according to claim 120, wherein thearray is reusable for repeatedly hybridizing oligonucleotides to thearray of oligonucleotides on the solid support.
 138. A kit foridentifying one or more of a plurality of sequences differing bysingle-base changes, insertions, deletions, or translocations in aplurality of target nucleotide sequences comprising: a ligase; aplurality oligonucleotide probe sets, each characterized by (a) a firstoligonucleotide probe, having a target sequence-specific portion and anaddressable array-specific portion, and (b) a second oligonucleotideprobe, having a target sequence-specific portion and detectable reporterlabel, wherein the oligonucleotide probes in a particular set aresuitable for ligation together when hybrided adjacent to one another ona respective target nucleotide sequence, but have a mismatch whichinterferes with such ligation when hybridized to any other nucleotidesequence, present in the sample; and a solid support with captureoligonucleotides immobilized at particular sites, wherein the captureoligonucleotides have nucleotide sequences complementary to theaddressable array-specific portions.
 139. A kit according to claim 138,wherein the mismatch of oligonucleotide probe sets to nucleotidesequences other than their respective target nucleotide sequences is ata base at a ligation junction at which the oligonucleotide probe of eachset ligate together when hybridized to their respective targetnucleotide sequences.
 140. A kit according to claim 138, wherein themismatch is on the oligonucleotide probe of the oligonucleotide probesets which have 3′ ends at the ligation junction.
 141. A kit accordingto claim 138, wherein the mismatch of oligonucleotide probe sets tonucleotide sequences other than their respective target nucleotidesequence is at a base adjacent to a ligation junction at which theoligonucleotide probes of each set ligate together when hybridized totheir respective target nucleotide sequences.
 142. A kit according toclaim 141, wherein the mismatch is on the oligonucleotide probe of theoligonucleotide probe sets which have 3′ ends at the ligation junction.143. A kit according to claim 138, wherein the ligase is selected fromthe group consisting of Thermus aquaticus ligase, Thermus thermophilusligase, E. coli ligase, T4 ligase, and Pyrococcus ligase.
 144. A kitaccording to claim 138 further comprising: amplification primerssuitable for preliminary amplification of the target nucleotidesequences and a polymerase.
 145. A kit according to claim 138, whereinthe solid support includes different capture oligonucleotidesimmobilized at different particular sites with different captureoligonucleotides being complementary to different addressablearray-specific portions, whereby different oligonucleotide probe setsare hybridized and detected at different sites on the solid support.146. A kit according to claim 138, wherein the solid support includesidentical capture oligonucleotides immobilized on the solid support withthe capture oligonucleotides complementary to all the addressablearray-specific portions and the labels attached to the oligonucleotideprobe sets being different, whereby the oligonucleotide probe sets aredetected and distinguished by the different labels.
 147. A kit accordingto claim 138, wherein the oligonucleotide probe sets and the captureoligonucleotides are configured so that the oligonucleotide probe setshybridize, respectively, to the target nucleotide sequences attemperatures which are less than that at which the captureoligonucleotides hybridize to the addressable array-specific portions ofthe oligonucleotide probes sets.